Quote from: Sephirah on December 26, 2024, 05:44:11 PMI've spoken to a lot of people who've decided to physically transition later in life. And in all these conversations, I think there was something in them that's been there for decades.

Certainly true for me.  I remember thinking back when I was 6 or 7 that the whole "boys are this, girls are that" thing was idiotic, and I had no desire to be what boys were supposed to be.  I was forced to do some of it, but I hated it.  Locker rooms felt like hell.  Summer camp (boys only) might have been fun, if there hadn't been all those boyish boys and the pressure to be properly boyish.

On the other hand, the idea of being turned into a girl terrified me.  I could only imagine that I would be cast out of the human race and  treated as some sort of monster or pariah and that dying would be my only escape.  It wasn't the being a girl that was horrible, it was how society would treat me.  It wasn't until I started reading blogs by trans women that I could imagine transitioning myself.  Once I saw that it was possible to transition and survive, I kind of knew I was going to.  Transitioning was like being freed from some dank dark dungeon cell.

I started at the age 21, went full time in the same year.

I do regret I never discovered my female self, earlier, I would loved to be a teenage girl

I wish that I was raised as a girl.

I'm 40.5yrs old just started HRT last week!

42 days after turning 35

Began taking medications at 50 but I first sent off for estrogen when I was 15. My father intercepted the package, went ballistic, and signed me up to the army to 'be a real man.'

It was another 35 years until I could truly become me. That's an awfully long time to be living a lie

To any younger people who look at this thread, don't make the same mistake. If you really know then with the right professional and medical support be true to you. You only get one life.

xx

I was 20 when I started my transition and was well worth it. The person I was before is no longer around

I started when I was 54, and it took a lot to get myself to the point of 1. understanding I was a trans woman and 2. beginning the transition process.

I came out slowly in stages, starting with my closest friends and then wider and wider circles. I am very lucky to live in the Portland, OR area where acceptance and support is more common than many or most other places in the US, and to work for a company that is welcoming and supportive of trans folks and our healthcare needs.

And yeah, I wish I had started decades ago. But better late than never!

I knew something was off from a young age, but I figured I could "overcome" it. I tried various things, but by the time I was a teenager I knew it was a battle I was unlikely to win. In my early 20s I started going down the road of transition in earnest, I remember setting up a big plan to be "done" with transition by the time I was 30, and I defined SRS as that endpoint. Looking back that was naive, but I did manage it at 32 so I wasn't so off plan.

So I guess you could say my medical transition was from 24-32 but, my social transition and pretransition planning goes back to like 19. I wish I could have started earlier, but I am still lucky to have been able to do it as young as I was.