Hi everyone!
Long time lurker first time poster here! I finally got fed up with not talking and decided to demolish another one of my barriers which kept me from posting here
My name is Arya, I am 27 years old and I was born and raised in Istanbul and I am still living in this huuuge and chaotic city ^^
I knew I was different since my earliest memories but my father was a colonel in the army so I grew up inside a strict environment, my mother worked in turkish airlines and has travelled world because of her job so she insisted on a western education for me. I am the single child and I lost my father when I was 15 right when my dysphoria was getting too much to bear. I had to repress my feelings for my mother and play the "man of the house" for her. I basically closed myself and turned into a shut in, I mainly played online games starting with ultima online than world of warcraft. I lost all my friends and failed to make new ones so I was left alone.
I won a spot in the erasmus programme last year while working on my MBA last year and I went to Netherlands for 6 months. I left with 3 huge luggages full of female clothes and finally tasted freedom for the first time when I was staying there and I finally came out to myself. I finally decided to do this and came out to my mother on skype. I expected her to reject me yet she told me that I am her child no matter what happens so it went well. She got me an appointment from a famous psychiatrist who is number one on trans matters in turkey. I was 127kg (280lbs) when I came out in april and I am now 79kg (174lbs)!
My mother was against me transitioning at first because of social reasons, being a woman in a muslim country is hard enough, being a trans woman is living life on hardest mode. She was afraid of our extended family rejecting me but my uncle who is the current head of the family has accepted me and is fully supportive. I got zero negative reactions from the family so I am kinda blessed
Families acceptance has also changed my mother and she has become much more supportive lately, she is attending meetings with other LGBT families, she is buying me girly stuff and tells me that I will become a beautiful girl because of my already feminine facial features (I have a baby face
)
I finally started HRT in february and I am already at 1 month mark
So far life has been really kind to me
Now according to my doc I need to demolish more barriers and open up to the outside world and stop being a shut in. Thanks for letting me be here, sharing others experience in one of the most difficult phases in ones life is great. I dont feel so alone when I am here ^^
