It's a curse.

I'm not going to use cognitive dissonance to make my situation out to be better than it is. It's not good nor healthy to be bodily dissociated, sexually averse, mentally stressed and socially shunned. The stress this condition puts upon the individual is grave.   

But it's a condition like so many others people can have that aren't great. Nature doesn't churn out perfect creations, only creations. 

In my mind it's not a blessing or a curse. I find it hard to think about it in that way.

I view my transition as a path to feeling well. Just like that.

Life is not a straight line. Not for anyone. And our individual experiences of the world differs for all of us. There is no correct way of living life. There is no normal. There is only a journey towards happiness in life. Transiton is a part of our journey and that's alright.
Sure we might struggle but at the same time we will understand and appreciate so many things that cis persons don't. And there will be other people going through things in life that we will never know or understand.

So I think it's important to remember to appreciate all the good things in your life. Because it is easy to take things for granted. Appreciate your bed, your family or friends, watching the sun go up in the morning, a nice coupe of coffe, music or anything else. But be alive.

A society based on tolerance and joy is the future. Let's be a part of that. Let us be happy and prosperous.

Since we got just one chance in life and it doesn't last forever. Why not enjoy it?
I would rather say that life is our opportunity to have a good time.

Hugs!

I don't see it as a blessing or a curse either.  It is just part of my life, and leads me to the end result I am looking for.

I don't think much about it, i just hope it will continue to bring me into full womanhood.

I still have to decide every morning, if am to be a man or a woman the upcoming day.  I still have no clear gender identity, but now that I am in transition, I have at least the chance to make this decission.  Now my fall back mode is female, and not the male role I had only available for many years!

If really pressed for it, I would say it is somewhat a blessing, because I now have an alternative to the unliked male role i was forced to play.

I can only believe that being transgender has been a burden on most of us. I also think that much of the perceived blessing is in our ability to see the contrast between the burden and the release from that burden. If there is a blessing isn't it in the knowledge of the differences? My guess is that it is up to each of us to decide what the blessings and curses are in our lives.

Nelson Mandela was in prison for 27 years right? I wonder how he views those 27 years.

Bad things happen, some get what seems to be more than their share of bad, not something we get to choose. I do get the benefit of choosing how I internalize it. I see no benefits in choosing to view being a transsexual as a curse, I will take what I can from this experience.

It is a blessing of course.   

I view it as a curse. I'd rather not have it. I dont think it has given me anything of benefit. It broke my marriage and has stopped me having any more children. But like all curses I've just had to make do with the bad cards I've been dealt

Em x

I guess I must be in the minority having said I believe it is a blessing.
But then again, that's how I've always viewed life, as a challenge. It's probably why I'm upbeat and that transition was a breeze. It was my attitude from day 1 when I walked out of my therapist office. Sure, I could have gone home and cursed for being made this way. Nope, I took the high road, accepted who I was, and that I would accept who I was, and be the best I can be.
10 years later, it's all good.
If someone were to grant me a wish that I could go back to my former gender, or not be trans, I would defiantly say nope. Happy where I am.

I will say blessing as very few people get to experience  both sides of the fence and it gives you a second  chance  to  change things

Quote from: IAmM on December 30, 2018, 04:34:27 PM
Nelson Mandela was in prison for 27 years right? I wonder how he views those 27 years.

Agree. And this reminds me of something I remember reading once.  An aged Winston Churchill  was asked to reflect back on  what was the best year of a long and eventful life.

Without hesitating he responded, "1940, always 1940."

We are formed not by our victories, but by our struggle.

Quote from: Jessica_Rose on December 30, 2018, 07:25:18 AM
Not understanding who I was almost cost my life, and I came within seconds of taking my family with me. I honestly do not know what stopped me. No one should ever reach a point in their life where they would consider something like that.

I don't see this as a blessing -- would you wish to bless this upon any of your friends? It is also too cruel of a punishment for any of my enemies.

We were born with bodies which did not match our minds. We tried to do what society expected of us even though we were not given the same tools as everyone else. Although we will have the unique gift of seeing the world from two different sets of eyes, for many of us this comes at a tremendous cost. If you did not feel trapped in the wrong body, is there anything so priceless for which you would gamble all of your friends and loved ones to gain?

We had to struggle all of our lives to become who we were meant to be, while everyone else had this 'blessing' handed to them at birth. It isn't a blessing or a curse, it is simply who we are. We are unique. Our understanding of life is different from everyone else's. If men are from Mars and women are from Venus, maybe we are from Earth. I am finally happy, and I have found peace. It would have been nice not to have had to fight so hard to reach this point in my life.

I love the refrain from 'I Am Woman' by Helen Reddy. Feel free to update the title and lyrics to match your gender:

Oh yes, I am wise
But it's wisdom born of pain
Yes, I've paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to, I can do anything
I am strong
I am invincible
I am woman 

My experience was quite similar trying to be what I'm not almost cost me my life. I lost a lot in transitioning but gained far more than I lost. I wouldn't wish being trans on anyone because yes, it is a hard road, but it is a path worth walking. If someone gave me an option to go back and never be trans I would say no.

Definitely a curse for me. It's complete mental and somewhat physical torture.

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Blessing or a curse? Neither for me, it's who I have been since before my earliest truly cognitive thoughts in this life time. Would I have not transitioned if there was another viable option for myself, IN A HEART BEAT! Since there was not, trying to make the best of it. I have lost some baggage, a small economic downturn at the start, have drifted apart from some I cared for, lost the desire to stop the life process. I have gained, the desire to proceed in the life process, an economic upturn, a closet full of clothing, a once in a life time friendship twice! My long term partner was the first, when I told her about my true self, there was nothing to lose she was out the door, she stayed and unpacked her truck! Could not longer take the sadness or anger.
I have been asked by others "how is it?" I can only say it was right for me. I will NEVER encourage anyone to transition, however, if they feel it's the correct path, will point them at too many resources as this is not a one size fit's any process and it needs to fit the needs of the individual.   I will say this, transition has been the most selfish act in my life. I had no expectations to retain any friends or family through this, I never expected any of my social circle to call me Margaret and not Phillip. Those who accepted me are still around, those who did not are not, cold sounding but it works for me. So a blessing or a curse? Just like to think it just is.
Peace
-Margaret

I have to go with curse.  I think it would have killed me if I had not started my transition.  I chose to live, but my transition has cost me my marriage, my job, my home, and I agreed to move away from my small hometown to avoid any embarrassment I may have caused my family.  Now I live alone, in a city where I know no one.  But I'm alive and that has to count for something.

In my youth I was feminine and happy, but slowly society re-shaped me into a successful business man. But never able to find true happiness, I drifted from marriage to marriage, I drifted from one obsession to the next, but never finding what was missing. Although I've been dressing for some time it's only recently that I connected this back to my youth. With that light bulb moment came an inner calm. If you've ever meditated it feels a bit like the calm during meditation, but there all the time. So, this is truly a blessing. That said I now have the anxiety of how to transform without too much damage to my life. So, I guess that's a curse. Like everything there are always pro's and con's.

For me being AMAB was a curse....
Still waiting to be blessed....

I have to say that for all the time you know you are trans and either are not or cannot take any positive action, that it is a curse; indeed I see us literally being born with a curse as the curse happens during our mothers pregnancy.

When we take positive action, gradually we see an improvement in our lives and we find peace and hopefully ultimately happiness.

However as we have to live so many years cursed firstly by being born trans and it bothering and upsetting us repeatedly and secondly by the great anti-reaction to it until quite recently  from society, then to me it must be a curse.

Hugs

Pamela

A Mixed bag. Fuels my artistic creativity but it comes from trying to fill the emptiness that comes with having a body that doesn't feel mine. 

Like most things it has its bad things and its good things. People who aren't transgender take for granted be comfortable with their gender/sex like childs who always have been rich, they don't value what they have. People who has been poor but they had to fight for their wealth values what they have.

Even with the depression and struggle that has been before; for me, becoming more myself is an exciting, liberating and awesome experience, that somebody who is not transgender will never experience it.