When I thought of myself as a male, I tended to view my personality as highly submissive, even though I'm cursed with a very rabid, mercurial type of temperament. Well, I expected the HRT to reduce my temperamental episodes, and I'm pleased that I have a little more self-control now; no more paranoid ideation, thank goodness. What I didn't expect was how my relationship with others seemed to change. I felt a lot less pecked, and I felt a lot more inclined to do the pecking. I used to feel shorter and younger than other people around me, even if they were actually shorter and obviously much younger; now I feel taller, and I feel a lot more mature. For the first time, I feel like an adult and someone who is entitled to some level of respect for that. I feel like I've begun to grow up.

Not surprising at all. We often have less confidence as our assigned selves, and we are often seen as not being able to live up or fit into our assigned genders.