First, sorry if this breaks the rules. I just needed to vent, feel free to delete.

Iā€™m laying here at night worrying. Iā€™ve had some euphoric moments today, and some dysphoric moments, and Iā€™m worried Iā€™m making a big mistake.

Iā€™ve painted my toes and Shaved my legs, and they look great, I love my legs, but then I look back up and see this gross fat bald dude.

I never thought I had gender dysphoria, just the regular ā€œHaha, I hate myselfā€ because of my gut, face hair, body hair, hips, butt.

I have spent months seriously thinking about My gender identity in the lens of self acceptance, and flood gates just open. Shaving my legs and arms in middle school, never being comfortable without a shirt on, little things I guess. I could always excuse those away, because I used to excuse my dream state persona as ā€œlol brains weirdā€.

Iā€™m thinking back on some of my experiences, and it just seems like I was willfully ignorant, or just didnā€™t have the words to describe the feelings let alone the emotional intelligence to name them and understand them.

There was a time I was looking for any acceptance from anyone, and I fell into hooking up with older men. I was feeling sexy and made a comment about it and this guy straight up slapped me down. It hurt, I was angry, I didnā€™t know why. I didnā€™t know that my mental image was so far off, and it hurt when someone told me. I buried that of course.

Lots of buried emotions, buried memories.

All of that is enough.

The other sense of joy and euphoria I got today was a confirmation that I will be able to start HRT in about a week if I want to, I got that email today and was ECSTATIC, but then comes in more doubt. Am I just rushing things along? What if Iā€™m just lying to myself. Letā€™s say I start HRT and after three months I call it quits? No harm trying, right? Better than sitting here in another ten years wondering why I kept kicking the can down the road. What if Iā€™m not really trans, what if itā€™s Justā€¦ā€¦ I dunno, I donā€™t even have any diversions or excuses.

Would a cis person have even gotten to this point?

So many questions, so many anxieties, so many red flags in hindsight.

Iā€™m trying to go back to sleep, I used to think it was just depression, but I love my dreams. Iā€™ve exercised my lucid dreaming enough over the years that I can do anything, go anywhere, but the thing I love most about my dreams is how free I am. I just am me, a switch of a bisexual woman. Sometimes Iā€™m more passive and sometimes Iā€™m more aggressive, but Iā€™m always me.

Waking up is torture, Iā€™d rather go back to sleep. There were times that I had so thoroughly disassociated from my life that the serialized dreams I had about being locked in an asylum seemed more real, more comforting. Real life just felt like a bad dream, and even though I still had a grasp on reality in my waking life, the trauma of having to live in an institution because of my delusions I was a man living a miserable life in a dead end ā€˜unskilledā€™ job in bum Fuck Midwestern land was a lot, still is a lot.

Sometimes Iā€™m not sure if that was more traumatic, or trying to be the husband I was always told I was supposed to be was more traumatic.

At that time I was drinking 18 12 oz cans of the cheapest strongest beer they sold a day within a six hour span, listening to old records and crying every night about something I couldnā€™t even tell what it was and was intentionally never going to remember in the morning.

Then Iā€™d go to sleepā€¦

I hope that girl is doing okay today.

TL;DR I have HRT available to me in the next weeks, and Iā€™m excited and nervous, I canā€™t shut off my mind, and while I know that if I were to offer estrogen to any of my male friends they wouldnā€™t even think twice about turning it down, Iā€™m sitting here excited and giddy but trying to talk myself down that maybe Iā€™m not really trans enough, but logically I understand cisgendered males donā€™t agonize over This and never wouldā€™ve gotten to this point of the discussion.

Thanks for coming to my TED stream-of-consciousness infodump ā¤ļø

  • MoonKitten@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    Iā€™m sorry to hear youā€™re struggling, it does sound quite similar to my transition process. I was told that the dysphoria often gets worse before it gets better and thatā€™s what I found. But it did get better.

    I also had those same doubts, at each stage, be it my initial appointments, getting HRT, taking HRT, booking SRS, getting SRS etc. I canā€™t obviously tell you if youā€™re right or wrong to transition, thatā€™s your own journey, but for me each step was plagued with doubts, but I donā€™t regret things at all and Iā€™m much happier now.

    I think the doubts are perfectly normal, you are doing something big, that, in the case of medical transition, has lasting effects on your body. Itā€™s natural to have doubts about that. I do think that youā€™re correct, a cis person wouldnā€™t even have a moments hesitation about declining HRT, itā€™s not something theyā€™d even consider.

    I will say that if youā€™re getting euphoria over the thought of taking HRT then itā€™s probably a good positive indicator. If youā€™re not sure there are a couple of things to bear in mind, taking HRT doesnā€™t generally have immediate external physical effect, it takes time to grow breasts. It does tend to have a mental effect much quicker, you can try it and see how you respond to that and stop if you donā€™t like it before you get irreversible effects. Please note Iā€™m not a doctor and Iā€™m only saying this from my own experience and every individual is different.

    One other thing you could try if you havenā€™t already is breast forms, try wearing them around the house and see if it gives you euphoria or not. Breast growth is the primary irreversible part of HRT so itā€™s a good litmus test I think.

    Regarding your dysphoria, I got the same. Transition is a journey and unfortunately I found that the more feminine I became in my gender expression the more glaring my masculine feature stood out to me. I think thatā€™s probably fairly common, but it does improve. Slowly my face softened, my fat redistributed, my breasts grew.

    Mainly though I got more confident and accepting of myself, itā€™s a long journey and isnā€™t always easy. Iā€™m unlikely to ever pass but Iā€™m ok with ā€œlooking transā€ now, itā€™s me, itā€™s who I am, and thatā€™s ok. I have wonderful supportive people in my life that Iā€™ve met since transitioning and Iā€™m much happier now.

    I hope your journey works for you, whatever you decide.

  • FriendlyBeagleDog@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    1 year ago

    Iā€™m sorry to hear that youā€™re struggling, but remember that to transition is a huge step and itā€™s very common for people to have some doubts along the way.

    As you say, I think itā€™s unlikely that a cis person would accept hormones if they were offered freely, let alone take the steps to acquire them. I certainly donā€™t think that a cis person would feel euphoric about being given the option.

    But if you do start taking hormones and find that you donā€™t like the effects, itā€™s okay to just stop. Itā€™s rare, but Iā€™ve known people to start and shortly thereafter stop because they didnā€™t vibe the early mental or later physical changes. Nobody worth your time will judge you for it.

    Whichever decision you make, I hope that you find happiness and freedom from anxiety!

  • chuckler@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    1 year ago

    Iā€™m in a similar position, I was pretty repressed and then figured out everything at once and started hormones ~1 month or so after that. I still get nervous sometimes, but as other members have pointed out you totally can just stop if you want. Itā€™s important to be in touch with how youā€™re feeling about the changes, particularly early, but itā€™s much much easier to figure out ā€œI like this, I donā€™t like this, Iā€™m excited about thisā€ vs. trying to reconstruct some kind of perfect trans narrative out of your past, and I really wish someone had told me it was cool to just do that!

  • VirulentAura@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Hi, I donā€™t know you, but I do feel very proud of you for being brave enough to take the next steps in your journey of self-discovery, whatever it looks like. It took me 37 years to come to terms with myself, to accept Iā€™m a girl. While Iā€™m only a week in to acceptance, I get you. I look in the mirror and see some ugly guy trying to dress up as a girl, most times. I just wanna be the beautiful sexy lady I know I am inside.

    I just wanna say, too, that if, at some point, you decide HRT isnā€™t right for you, thatā€™s okay. That doesnā€™t make you any less of the beautiful, strong young woman you know you are. And if, for some reason, you decide you are cisgendered , thatā€™s okay too. This is your journey. Donā€™t let anyone tell you that you are doing it wrong.