A new week...
Good morning everyone!
I spent some time this past weekend thinking about my "next steps." I've exhausted (I think) most of the subtle steps that I can take, I get the feeling that whatever I do next in terms of transition will be quite noticeable, which prompted me to wonder how ready I am for that. Wondering how ready I am made me then wonder whether it was fear holding me back a little (answer = yes).
It helped a little (a lot) that I sat down at one point and wrote out a list of what I see as all of the steps that would happen if I transitioned fully (including hormones and surgery), that helped me see what things I can be doing now (working on my voice leapt to the fore).
But then the fear. What am I afraid of? One possibility is the fear that this isn't really the right thing for me (that's a fear that pops up from time to time). While that's a legitimate consideration, I also know that I fear the idea of continuing to live my life as a male. And I know that the only way to address that fear is to continue moving forward. If it's true that this isn't the right path for me that will eventually come through.
More likely is that my fear is based on "looking silly." More specifically that I'll look like a man dressing as a woman. I've read much about the idea of "passing" and the pros and cons, and I fully understand and in principle agree with the idea that we shouldn't necessarily be going for that (that a "man" should be able to wear whatever they want), but for me, right now, I want people to accept me as a woman and so I consider it important that my appearance not contradict that. It's probably enough for now if my "look" (hair, face, etc.) is androgynous, that at least wouldn't contradict how I'm dressed. The problem with achieving that is that when I look in the mirror I just see me, I don't know if I can objectively tell if I look female, male, or androgynous. I was told by a couple of people at work last week that I definitely look more female than I used to, so that's a good start.
Fear is the other thing, and that won't really be resolved until I do go out in public dressed clearly female (but without the wig and full make-up that I've done when cross-dressing). Over the past couple of years I went through a lengthy period when I found that if I kind of wanted to do something but it scared me, I had to do it (e.g., cross-dressing in public, taking an improv class, doing drag, taking a solo show class - which culminated in a 6-minute solo piece in front of an actual audience). I look at that period now as my way of building up to overcoming this fear - in this case not something that I "kind of want" to do, but something I must do.
With my wardrobe almost fully in place, and final exams at work ending this week, I'm now committed to dressing full-time as a woman starting next Monday (it will also happen most of this week).
Thanks for listening
xoxo
Christie
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