Um, hey all,

Hope you'll forgive me for any slip of the keyboard or ineloquent speech--certainly not intentional, I just sometimes have trouble expressing my ideas cohesively. 

It seems that once gender dysphoria has been recognized & the choice to do something about it has been made, one's entire life/being becomes centered about said changes.  I am an outsider, or rather, one who does not have gender dysphoria & isn't qualified to really know what your experience is/has been.  So...if I'm interpreting that incorrectly, go right ahead & knock me down a couple pegs.

My question, for those willing to share is when would you say you regain a sense of 'normalcy' about your life?  What I mean is, when is your life not about being trans, and just about being yourself, period?  I don't want to assume that it's only when transition is complete (and when do you consider it 'complete'?).  When (if ever) do you not feel the need for transgender support groups?  And whatever else 'normalcy' might mean for you..... 

Well...for anyone who cares to enlighten me....thank you.... 

~Valerie

Quote from: Valerie on November 23, 2010, 07:16:04 PMIt seems that once gender dysphoria has been recognized & the choice to do something about it has been made, one's entire life/being becomes centered about said changes.

That's definitely my experience so far.  I'm quite early in the process, but I have some ideas, or hopes, about what you're asking - it's a great question, and I hope you get some great answers.  I'm hoping that at some point, I'll realize I've achieved a "new normal", and that it'll be quite a lot happier than my life to this point.  Not because my problems are all solved, but because I can truly be myself.  I'm just in the process of discovering the true dimensions of that self, and I'm very much liking what I'm finding.  I'm discovering a wealth of emotions, a towering inner strength, and a truly happy disposition.  Those discoveries give me some small indication of what to expect and hope for.  I'm looking forward to the rest of my life.

You're right, Valerie, during transition it does take over your life.
After you've done whatever you have done it recedes into the background.
You have more important things to think about: Is today garbage day? Did I eat the last banana? Do I have to buy toilet paper?
TS is something that does cling to you like a bizarre or archaic middle name.
It's a very minor fact about you that usually does not pop up in conversation.

My life ceased being anything trans 4 months after my last surgery, when the incision was finally 100% healed.  I don't have to think about transition any more.  I am finally just me.  And I'm (to be totally cliche!) on cloud 9!!

Life is now about cleaning refrigerators, raking leaves and bleaching bath towels.  Yay!





Jay

Everyone has a different experience and/or goal they want to achieve.. some want to get through as quickly as possible where some prefer it to be a part of their lives, others to help fight for rights etc. For those they don't necessary feel a need to shake that trans label off and instead take pride in it, others just take pride in it and remain open about their medical history yet on the same token they don't let it define their lives. There are as many different avenues as there are people going through it.
I guess medically for some it's viewed as a second puberty which is usually a seven year period but with it being a second puberty it can happen a little faster.... age depends on it greatly. The younger you are the quicker and more noticeable results one can achieve.
For me I view it as a medical condition only so once I have done all I can medically then I will feel that transition is behind me. As a side point at what point did I feel like I could consider myself a woman instead of a man? I kind of let that be up to the general public.. once they generally saw me as female then I felt that as a validation of my change enough to change my pronouns etc. Yet that is just my experience (obviously). That happened around 6-8 months into HRT.
I feel HRT is a huge part along with gender identity of recognising that change, mostly physically but also mentally.  I've been transitioning for 2-3 years now and there will be at least another year of electrolysis and other little things, legal changes etc that I need to go through so for a rough estimate five years.
On the other hand some people decide against a lot of the available medical procedures so their transition could be much quicker. And for those that struggle financially that can set them back.
A guessamation for overall I'd say on average between 2-7 years. But knowing those that go through it you'll no doubt get a "but what's normal?" question. We're such individuals ^____^
^_____0

My  life is as normal as it is likely to ever get and I am still in the process of transition.

This depends on what your definition of "normal" is as well.

When I was young and a psychologist diagnosed me with GID and called me transsexual, I felt very abnormal. I felt like there was something terribly wrong with me. It took me a number of years to recognize that I wasn't abnormal at all - that I was normal for me. My normal may be someone else's abnormal.

10 months in It's not normal yet... Have you ever watched the sci-fi show far-scape. It's like that.

Bizzare, Disheartening, Exciting, Dangerous. It' becomes normal once you stop changing in such an acute manner and you get used to how society treats you now. Ie probably  short while after becoming post op based on other users experiences and how post op girls dissapear.
Things like.
http://heartgear.deviantart.com/art/Material-Girl-Dread-115846373
This page of this comic spoke to me and reminds me of my frequent experience.

Sitting in the psychiatrists waiting room in female clothes and you were sent there because "People are worried about you." and your sitting next to man who thinks the newspaper is stealing his thoughts, and a woman who is catatonic depressive.
"I feel crazy... :/ Did I do a bad thing?"

Then there's both joy and panic associated with a guy flirting with you. "yay I pass and this guy keeps complimenting me!... But I'm deficient to a normal woman what if he reads me soon?"

Normal is a setting on a washing machine. I'm a human being, and therefore I can never be normal. Normality in the human race is a mere illusion as the world is diverse and everyone who lives in it is unique and special in their own way.