For those of you who are transitioning, do you ever get the feeling like you can't wait to move on to the next step? Like you want it all at once and you just don't have any patience for a long drawn-out process? It feels like that for me sometimes. Of course, I do see the benefits of taking my time, but if I had my choice, I'd do it all at once. 

hun... I've been told I need to do 1 year rle before testosterone...

I got to wait... for a year!

And the psychiatrist that can get me started is on a vacation.. untill JULY!

So I got to wait before I can wait?.. something like that..

GODS, I hope I can talk my way into getting T sooner.. :/

Quote from: Kara on June 12, 2009, 10:59:19 AM
For those of you who are transitioning, do you ever get the feeling like you can't wait to move on to the next step? Like you want it all at once and you just don't have any patience for a long drawn-out process?

My therapist tells me to slow down almost every week. I just want it all to be done...right now. Too bad it doesn't work that way...

A year ago I had the money to get an SRS, but things happen.  So now I have to wait.  But that is best I think.  That is why the SOC exists, to make sure that we are prepared and ready for that day.

God I am I ready.

Janet

If I could wave a magic wand and just instantly be completely physically female, I absolutely would.

However, I've got a strange knack for patience, so it's not really bothering me too much having to go at things slowly. I managed to patiently wait 4 years before I was finally in a situation where I could start seeing a therapist. Then patiently waited a year before I was in a situation where I could actually start hormones. Then I patiently waited almost 6 months before I started presenting as female in public.

Now I just have to be patient until I can get the money for SRS. Assuming I ever manage to get a job... *dejected sigh* I don't know how I'd have made it this far if I didn't have so much patience. Though, I'm using up all my patience on this and don't have much for anyone around me! ^_^;;

You know, now that I think of it, I don't know if I see the logic of making someone wait this long and taking through a loooong process. Does anyone ever have second thoughts once they make up their minds? Once you start the process, does anyone suddenly decide they want out? I haven't come across anyone like this, so it seems strange why counselors would make you wait and wait. I'm probably gonna ask during my next session this coming Thursday and post my results. 

I had to wait 3 years before I could do anything physical with my transition. this was to do health conditions though. Yeah, it seemed long. I drank through most of it.

Yes there are some who feel they have made the wrong choice. There are 2 cases here in Australia at the moment. It has shaken up the Gender Clinic here for sure. The same people who tell us to be patient, are the very ones who come under fire from some who feel misdiagnosed.

Quote from: Kara on June 12, 2009, 10:59:19 AM
For those of you who are transitioning, do you ever get the feeling like you can't wait to move on to the next step? Like you want it all at once and you just don't have any patience for a long drawn-out process? It feels like that for me sometimes. Of course, I do see the benefits of taking my time, but if I had my choice, I'd do it all at once. 

Ever?

Try

EVERY.
FREAKIN'.
NANOSECOND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously, where's a genie in a lamp when you really need one?

Part of transitioning is about managing your own expectations.

Its easy to get depressed or down when things don't move as fast as you wish.

Everytime you are going forward its a step in the right direction.

Buffy

I wish I could just start transistioning already! But I'm going to have to wait at least a year, because I'm unemployed and need to save up enough money for therapy, blood tests, and then finally testosterone. And if my parents don't approve and refuse to allow me to take HRT, then I'll have to wait almost another year because I'm younger!

On the plus side, it gives me a while to consider whether I really want to be transistioning, so at least I'm not rushing headfirst into something that I haven't thought through enough. (although it also gives me plenty of time to doubt myself...)


modified age to say younger

Quote from: Buffy on June 13, 2009, 01:34:22 AM
Part of transitioning is about managing your own expectations.

Its easy to get depressed or down when things don't move as fast as you wish.

Everytime you are going forward its a step in the right direction.

Buffy

I agree.  I know of at least one MtF who has had surgery to make her Cinerella but is now very disappointed because there isn't a prince waiting for her.

Transitioning isn't like turning a page; it's more like growing or unfolding.  I've gone really fast, but my expectations and how I view myself have transitioned along with my external transition.

The SOC 1-year RLE requirement isn't just to make sure you want to do this but also to make sure you can live in your target gender.  Living as a woman (if you are MtF) isn't just saying you want to be a woman and wearing women's clothes, it is being a woman in your mind and in your actions and mannerisms and interactions and daily life and so forth.  You've lived as a man for X years.  It will take time to settle into living as a woman.  (Or vice versa for FtM.)  Also, you can tell your therapist anything.  They want to be sure you are talking truth to them and to yourself.

Yeah, I've wished for the genie.  I've seen a bunch of movies where I guy wakes up as a woman, with all the problems and hilarity that follows.  But real life is much more complex and the transition is just that - a transition.

I can understand impatience with having to wait to begin transition, but I hope all of you who actually transition get a chance to enjoy every step of the wondrous journey.

Just my two cents...

- Kate

What I am really impatient for is for the "star to align" so I can actually get started, such as...

*I have a reliable source of income that will presist through transition
*I lose the 100 pounds or so that are so in the way
*I have somehow reconciled how my relationship with my wife develops and how her emotional needs get met

If I had these things and i could go out tomorrow and begin my RLE - or at least the HRT and hair removal necessary to do that - I'd be fine with the year or three it took to get from here to SRS. what frusterates me is being emotionally ready to begin and not being practically able to.

Still, I don't imagine for a second I'd pass up the chance to make a magic wish to be a natural born girl - and frankly, one who was about 16 so I cold do all the things i missed the first go around...

I'd pass on the wish to have been born a natal boy. I wouldn't be who I am without what I've gone through. I probably wouldn't ever have met my husband for one thing...

I like having the challenge.

Makes it worth it.

A chance to stick out and prove people wrong through my hard work and dedication, not through the amount of plastic surgery I've had.

Quote from: Laura Hope on June 14, 2009, 12:37:34 AM
What I am really impatient for is for the "star to align" so I can actually get started, such as...

*I have a reliable source of income that will presist through transition
*I lose the 100 pounds or so that are so in the way
*I have somehow reconciled how my relationship with my wife develops and how her emotional needs get met

If I had these things and i could go out tomorrow and begin my RLE - or at least the HRT and hair removal necessary to do that - I'd be fine with the year or three it took to get from here to SRS. what frusterates me is being emotionally ready to begin and not being practically able to.

Still, I don't imagine for a second I'd pass up the chance to make a magic wish to be a natural born girl - and frankly, one who was about 16 so I cold do all the things i missed the first go around...

Hi Laura,
You may not be able to begin, but you can get ready to begin.  There's a lot to do before you start HRT.  There's a lot you can do before starting hair-removal.  There's certainly bunches of things to do before starting full-time.  Those preliminary things may not be as exciting or glamorous, but they are necessary.

Keep looking for a reliable source of income.  Begin to lose weight; that's not going to happen overnight.  Begin working toward reconciliation.  Then, when the time is right you will have done the groundwork and can start on the fun stuff.

Good luck, hon.

- Kate

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Post Merge: June 14, 2009, 08:01:41 AM

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Quote from: Miniar on June 14, 2009, 05:48:29 AM
I'd pass on the wish to have been born a natal boy. I wouldn't be who I am without what I've gone through. I probably wouldn't ever have met my husband for one thing...

I agree.  As much as I would have liked to transition at age 5, if I had I would not be who I am today.  I kind of like who I am today.  

Plus, I wouldn't give up my 35 year-old daughter for anything.  Transitioning 34 years ago would have been nice but then I would have missed being her father as she grew up.  I guess I'll just have to be happy with how things worked out.

- Kate

I've always felt the need for instant, complete, perfect transformation. Transition is what is available. I would have done anything to be able to complete it successfully right out of high school, but real life and fear and simply not being able to function as a male always got in the way. I would have thought, once it became apparent that I literally lost it so bad trying to be a guy, that I could not hold myself together for more than a few months at a time without a breakdown, I could have gotten some help getting through transition and into a more stable situation before worrying about the costs. I can do it to get through collage, but not to fix the body I live in... go figure!

So, yeah, this waiting and waiting for something I won't have until I finally transition makes me blow a fuse pretty regularly.

Yeah, I can't do anything physical for about a year, being a minor, so it's kind of irritating.  I am going fulltime, but I'm not very convincing at this point in time.  To make myself feel better, I'm planning things in advance so that when I'm 18, I can start things as quickly as possible.