Your Gender Identity Can Change Over Time, And Yes, That's Totally Normal

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/wellness/your-gender-identity-can-change-over-time-and-yes-that-s-totally-normal/ar-AAZhE6B?ocid=windirect&cvid=8cd16eddb8c047d5bd15a44d14b4f857&ei=76

Story by Emily Becker, Addison Aloian, Heath Fogg Davis, PhD, Sabrina Talbert (Jan 2024)

If you're figuring out your own gender identity, you'll want to start by asking yourself some questions. A few of those might include, "What settings do I feel, not most accepted in, but most comfortable in? Who in my life do I feel most similar to and relate to? What do I enjoy? Do I feel right in my body? When others [talk about] the gender that they think I am, does that feel right to me?" says Amy Mezulis, PhD, a clinical psychologist and co-founder and chief clinical officer at Joon, a telehealth service for teens and young adults.

Gender is a social construct, and pushing against that to discover who you are isn't always easy. Thankfully, in this day and age, many terms surrounding gender are becoming more widely recognized in our society. "The language we have around [gender identity] is rapidly expanding to accommodate for the wide variety of gender identities and expressions out there," says Paula Leech, LMFT, an AASECT-certified sex therapist. "The more we can expose ourselves to the diversity of gender identity and expression out in the world, the more likely we are to find ourselves reflected back with greater clarity."

Amen! And I'd just like to say that my hair does indeed identify as Graygender. 

My Endocrinologist told me a story of a woman, a patient of hers for six years, who came to her office one day and declared that she was no longer transgender, then walked out. No explanation. 

There are a lot of different aspects to being male or female.
HRT can change some of them but there is still a lot of work to do even after HRT has done its "magic."
That patient of six years may have found the road to female to be too difficult.

In some ways it is easy for me being short of stature and having a voice that didn't change much with puberty.  Still, it a lot of work to be respected as a female.