I'm scared that I'm going in to this too early, I'm scared I'll change my mind. Aside from the signs throughout my life, I've only thought of myself as a transsexual for about 8-9 or so months, maybe a year and a few months for seriously wishing to be a woman. I read somewhere that I shouldn't get therapy till after 2 years of consistent thoughts, maybe that's just for HRT. Can anyone help? I'm willing to push back the planned date for counseling to December (would perfer it, argh, procrastination) But not farther than that. >.>

I would think that one of the purposes of therapy or counseling is precisely to explore how you feel about it, hon. I know a lot of folks use it as a step to getting on HRT, but it doesn't have to be seen in that way, and talking it over with a trained professional, about how you feel and whether you actually DO think it's something to proceed with, surely can't be a bad thing... so maybe the sooner the better?

Start therapy ... no one says you have to go get on hormones once you start therapy ... a therapist will help you explore your thoughts and feeling & help you become most comfortable for you.  A therapists job is to meet your needs.  It could only help you feel better about your things and where you need to go with your life.

Therapy will help you figure out if this is really for you or not.

I started recently.  Part of why I did is to help me sort through all the misgivings and confusion in general.  You don't have to rush anything just because you've started seeing a therapist.

I know one of my fears that kept me from starting earlier was that they wouldn't take me seriously since I haven't known all my life (even if the neon signs should have been a hint to me lol). I've really only come to terms with being transgender in the past 9 months, and claiming a male identity has been even more recent. But therapy is a great place to be affirmed, and a safe place to think about these things. I wish I would have started sooner.

Oh Man ... this site is the best !  

It feels like someone is looking into the book of My Mind. *sighs in relief* 

I go by some people I may know as associates or from others of hear say...so I am happy to hear that the therapy is not always for BAM ! --> hormone therapy .  I have decided that I want top surgery and have researched on who I want to go to and all the other stuff & I need a therapist for that but not to sure about hormone therapy and it's a relief to know that a therapist will help me "sort it out and see if that's the best thing" for me.  I talked to a couple of people & I was feeling so odd that HRT wasn't my 1st priority.