Even if it's a small change in your attitude, what is that one thing you can rely on when having a rough day?

I have a few go to activities I can rely on, but they depend on how much time and energy I have to devote to them.

My favorite and most consistent activity is taking a long shower and shaving every inch of my body. Body hair has always been such a huge source of dysphoria for me since I was a teenager over 15 years ago. Weeeellll before I knew what dysphoria was. I would shave my arms and legs until my friends starting making fun of me for it. Didn't realize it was such a "weird" thing for me to do. I just hated seeing the hair and loved the sensation of smooth skin. 😅

Unfortunately this activity takes me a while if I want to do it right, but goodness do I feel like a new woman when I crawl into bed that night with soft silky skin.

So do you have a similar activity? Is it self care based like like or something different like listening to a favorite music album or watchi

So, let's keep it simple to start.

How have you been? Where are you in your journey?

I've been on an emotional rollercoaster of sorts for a while but we won't get into that.

I've just hit 6mo on HRT and last week I learned...

drumroll please

I finally love myself! Something that has taken me 30 years to learn to do. And that final piece of the puzzle was to embrace myself as Olivia ❤️

So, how have you been? What's on your mind?

• O✌🏻

My family tends to be sprinkled throughout the different levels. My wife, grandmother and son, easily number 1 in support of my transition and identity.

Many of my cousins I grew up with are level 2.

Father and stepmother are level 5 - possibly level 6 when I was a child - still figuring that one out as new traumas surface.

Everyone else hovers around 3 - 5.

Just remember, I'll always be a level 1 for you ❤️

Level 1: completely supportive

Level 2: mostly supportive but lacking some knowledge, or some transmedicalist attitudes due to ignorance, not malignancy

Level 3: neutral, not supportive but not opposing either, or "supportive" transmedicalist

Level 4: leaning oppose, but no forceful interventions, or refuse to gende you correctly but used neutral pronouns

Level 5: misgendering, not accepting you as their daughter or son, but still pretend to be "loving" misgendered you

Level 6: disowning or physically beating or etc, most extreme measures

(Stolen, with love, from the u

Have you been in a codependent relationship?

My transition has helped me realize just how bad the codependency was in my marriage. Things are really rough for me currently as we try and untangle the destructive habits.

I have never had a sense of identity outside of my relationship with my wife. Now that is changing, it means my marriage must change with it... or not.

And how have they shown that support to you?

Been a while since I've posted here but missed you all!

I'd love for this to be a discussion question, but also I am legitimately asking.

I have a beautiful son who helped crack my egg when he was born. But I'm still struggling understanding what being a mom means other than "just how I feel"

I never had good blueprints for being a father or mother so all I know is generally "how to be a parent"

But I'm curious to those of you that have children. What does being a mother mean to you? What does being a father mean to you?

Thank you

-Liv

I feel that I should preface this by warning questioning people that looking for signs is generally not a good way to find out if you're trans. Different people experience being trans in different ways.

Thank you lady_scarecrow for the above disclaimer. Very good advice ❤️

She may be knockoff but she's mine 🦈

A lot of us experience dysphoria about a lot of things. Personally, one of my biggest points of dysphoria is my facial/body hair and masculine sounding voice.

We believe this should be a community where all trans people are welcome to give and receive support on their journey.

Feel free to rant about what's been bothering you and try and comment on someone else's comment with some encouragement! It can really go a long way to brightening someone's day!

Love to all my trans brothers, sisters, enbies and all other flavors of people who live as they are ❤️

-Olivia (oNevia)

I just took my first Spiro about an hour ago. I'll be doing my first E injection tonight (after my little one is asleep for the night) and I can not express all of the emotions I have been having over the past few days.

My wife surprised me with an amazing care package which included:

• New pink reusable water bottle to keep me hydrated

-Obligatory cat ears (wearing right now)

-Trans flag socks :D

-Jar of pickles

-Custom trans colored m&Ms with sayings like "you are loved Olivia" "I want to see you be brave" "take your e today!"

-"The Blessed Unrest" vinyl by Sara Bareilles which has been very affirming for me as of late

-A beautiful finger painting my 19mo son made me of a butterfly and the words "and she became a beautiful butterfly"

-Pepper spray to keep me safe

-Super cute girly bandaids to use after my shots.

I balled like a baby. I cried more than I think I ever have before. I am so full of love and gratitude for this woman and her support. For my family. And f

Hey all,

So I'm a nervous wreck waiting in the waiting room to start talking to an endocrinologist about HRT.

I know I want this. And I believe I need this to live but I am so paralyzed with anxiety 😬

Edit: thank you everyone for your support and kind words! That means the world to me ❤️

Just got home. The appointment went amazingly! My doctor took the time to listen to me and even went out of her way to refer me to vocal training with the hospitals speech therapist because I happened to say my voice was dysphoric. I didn't even know they had a speech therapist that does vocal feminization! Plus my insurance will most likely cover it 😄

She was kind, respectful and didn't trivialize my experience as a person or a woman.

Just need to wait for blood results to come back and I'll be in the needle club.

I'm starting off with (I think) 2mg injected in the thigh once a week and 100mg of Spiro a day with potentially adding progesterone if needed or wanted.

Hey ladies ❤️

I have my first consult with an endocrinologist on Monday to start HRT! I'm so excited to begin this part of the journey but have one snag that I'm having trouble getting past.

My wife and I are trying to store some of my sperm in case we want a second child in a few years. Obviously I need to do this before I can start E, but am having issues finding a bank near me and figuring out how much to store, how to prep and all that.

So a couple questions for those that went through the banking process before starting their journeys:

How much should I bank for IUI to "effectively guarantee" there will be enough stored to get a positive pregnancy? I've heard that IUI has a really low success rate, but I have no idea how much sperm is used per session and exactly how much I should store to make sure we don't run out?

Any one have experience using a mail in service? And if so, what was the process like? And are their labs out there that accept insurance?

What do I need to d

Hey friends ❤️

Bit of an off topic question, but could use some help from my sisters.

Coming up is the first Valentine's day that my wife and I have decided to celebrate. It's also the first one since I cracked my egg.

I'm weirdly at a loss for how to celebrate and what gifts to get my wife. Specifically, I would love to find a gift or make a meaningful memory for her as a thank you for her devotion and love for me. Especially after coming out and being my authentic self.

Does anyone have any ideas? Best I have thought of is a set of matching jewelry or maybe little love notes hidden around the house about why I love her.

Not really sure

I think I'm struggling a bit on my self acceptance.

For example, I know that HRT is something I want. But I'm not ready for it right now. I have this strong desire to start it and start a more noticeable transition, but after looking more into it I got scared and dysphoric almost about the whole thing?

I have moments where I'm confident and want to move forward but also moments where I'm scared and it feels like too much.

Plus I feel like I'm running out the clock on my transition. I'm almost 30 and only came out to myself and my wife a month ago. I feel like I've wasted a lot of my life already in the wrong body and I feel like I need to play catch up almost.

I guess I'm wondering if these are common feelings people have when first starting off? Knowing that you want something for your transition but just not being ready yet. And this weird sense of time slipping away even faster than before? Almost like a mid life crisis... like a beginning transition crisis, lol

Just someth