How do you define dysphoric thoughts?

I didn’t think I had dysphoria until I put on a dress and stopped normalizing it, at 44.

Here’s some reflection after the fact. Hated puberty. Hated getting hair all over. Never felt like a man, always a boy. Never really enjoyed penetrative sex, always felt weird to me but I did it anyway because I thought I was supposed too. Preferred my head hair long but often wore it short for safety. Preferred pink but never allowed myself to wear it because of safety. Reoccurring dreams where I’m a woman. Preferring to play women in RPGs, as long as I wasn’t being bullied for it. The list goes on.

But the mind can be quite adapt at hiding from itself . It’s an adaptation to survive bullying. When I started accepting that I was genderqueer and likely trans, the puzzle pieces started to fit.

Another excellent way to tell if you have gender dysphoria, is if you get gender euphoria when you allow yourself to be yourself.

And so far, I only cracked my egg last month, that euphoria has been a guiding light for me out of a lifetime of depression, anxiety, and general self hatred.

Sorry your parents are religious. My family is not and it’s still been difficult for them to accept. It’s been difficult for me to accept too, as there is a lot of misinformation about what it is to be trans. A lot of gas lighting and gatekeeping from people who want to pretend that we don’t exist.

But the joy I feel being myself is worth it. And as my family sees my joy, they come to accept that this is real.