Oh thank you so very much! I was terrified coming out to them back then, so I couldn’t be more relieved about their support ^^

You’re very welcome! I thought this experience might be a good one to share in showing how supportive people can still stumble, but as long as everyone recognizes that one’s humanity and values are still being respected, then an awkward situation like that can be recovered.

You’re absolutely right. It’s the same thing as talking to someone who doesn’t know a topic as well as you do. They might say baffling things, but having the awareness to know it’s coming from a place of lack of knowledge, rather than a place of malicious intention, makes a world of a difference.

Much thanks! If this were me a year ago when I was much more troubled, I don’t know if I could have given my dad grace the way I did when this happened. My family doing their best to make me feel comfortable over the past year helped a lot!

Thank you! :D

Thanks for the tip! Didn’t know Planet Fitness was a proactive trans ally.

Sorry to hear you’re currently homeless. I hope things will turn around for you soon, friend <3

Sorry to hear you went through these episodes as well :( Happy that they were alleviated once your breasts started growing in! That gives me hope as well :') :hugback:

I appreciate your concern for my safety! <3 It was pretty reckless of me to not have some sort of backup plan in case something like this happened. Keeping my breast forms in the car is such an easy solution that I’m slapping myself for not thinking about it. I guess I thought that since these drives had been “fine” for so long, I could just keep doing things this way, but that’s shortsighted :(

Developing self-love is something I really want to work on. Not just to prevent more incidents like this, but because I know it’ll be healthy for my mind for the long term since it’ll be a while before I get to where I want to be. On the bright side, starting HRT recently has made me feel less depressed and thinking “I’m trapped in this body” and more “I can’t wait for this stuff to change!” Just wish the random dysphoria would also start seeing the light at the end of the tunnel :')

I just happened to be thinking about that quote recently lol. Yeah that’s one way to look at things, and I think that’s what my mind is doing whenever I boymode. But like Bruce, sometimes the other guy just comes out uninvited and it sucks :(

Aww, I would feel so bad about taking someone else’s growth :( I appreciate the sentiment, though! <3

Happy to hear that this lyric invigorates you to keep going down the path you know is right for you. Thank you for sharing that cute video! May your Mind Mirror always reflect in the path you follow <3

Dissociation, unmoored from any sense of time or place, a stranger to yourself and to others in your life… I know the feeling well. You’re not alone in this experience, and I hope that the solidarity amongst everyone in this thread helps ground you.

Answer by Bump of Chicken is a good song to listen to when you’re going through this, especially with the English lyrics provided in the video. It’s sung in a way that’s soothing but invigorating. The lyrics talk about finding one’s reason for living, but they never actually say what the answer is. Instead, it focuses on the journey, on the feelings, on all the twists and turns it takes to get to each person’s unique answer. It really speaks to me, and I hope it will for you as well.

Much love, friend. Now and always.

I have these sorts of “can’t get out of bed” days all the time. It happens to me a lot on days I’m not working and don’t have the pressure to get ready right away.

Sometimes it’ll make me lie in bed for hours, so then I’ll feel like never getting up because I look and feel so gross and un-cute :( But if I do manage to pull myself together and go through my shaving + skin care routine (maybe even a full shower), it always ends up making me feel a lot better.

But it sucks that doing all that is so time-consuming, especially the damn shaving, ugh. I can’t wait to get to that point in HRT when the face and body hair growth slows down.