Hello all

[SyD]

Well, introductions are not my strong suit. I've been reading steadily for a little over a year now and had occasionally stumbled on LiA strips here and there before that. Finally made a forum account as there was a post I wanted to reply to and it only seemed proper to make an introduction here too.

I'll be honest, I found Bear's coming out strip through a link from Reddit during a pretty turbulent time in my life and it was one thing among many that influenced me but that played an important part in helping me realize it was time to stop denying who I was. I came out to myself and a few trusted people as a transgender woman a short time after and I've now been living openly as myself for a little over 2 months. I want to thank you for helping me in that journey and I wish you both the absolute best!

[Pie]

Heya SyD and welcome to the forums. ^_^ I think you did a fine job with your introduction. =) Hahaha, it's funny that you mentioned about Bear's image on the banner. I know I so need to work on it.

Thank you so much SyD for sharing with us your thanks. We're both really grateful that we played a part in helping you to decide to stop denying who you are and pursue a piece of happiness. =) Congratulations on starting transition. Have you started with HRT yet? If you have questions, feel free to ask us questions. =) -the invitation is open as well to anyone else who happens to read this post. XD

[SyD]

Thanks! I'm actually coming up on my 9 month HRTiversary soon and I couldn't be happier about that. I kind of went full on "research everything!" mode after I finally stopped denying (it is a very strange experience to be educating your own endocrinologist on HRT treatment) and found some wonderful communities that were able to answer most of the questions I had but I really appreciate the offer and if I think of anything I may take you up on it. <3

I'd like to offer to same to anyone here, I also don't mind questions so long as they're not deliberately disrespectful. I've bookmarked a ton of resources on various trans-related topics over the past year (which I sorely need to organize better, lol) but I'm always happy to share.

[Graum]

Welcome!

"full on research mode"

heh... me too... so much so I put finding a job and getting ready for college on the backburner for 3 months........ my dad did not approve but he didnt know about my reason either until it was too late for me (he did what he thought he had to to get me to do something, so he kicked me out... NOT for being transgender tho... just clear that up right away). I would spend every hour of the day researching how everything worked and seeing how I lined up with other peoples feelings who were "authenticly transgender" as my mind would label them (cuz you MUST line up with them right! WRONG). Turns out.... I dont line up all that perfectly with a lot of other peoples coming out stories and stories of how they found out... but I also found out that doesn't really matter... so here I am doing it regardless of whatever anyone thinks because I know it will make me happier!

Thanks for feeling like responding to my thread too, it made me feel better

[SyD]

Aww I'm happy it could make you feel better. And yeah, the pervasive idea most of society has that there's really only one narrative when it comes to being trans is fairly harmful. I went through that too.

I currently help moderate a decently large discord server which is not exclusively trans (but a huge majority there are). One thing I've had driven home through being there is that everyone's experience and journey is different, there's no "one true way".