I had been existing for almost 52 years in a world filled with confusion, which turned into severe depression (self diagnosed) around the onset of puberty. I was/am confident of my diagnosis because I cannot remember too many days where I didn't wish for my existence to end, but I was never brave or selfish enough to do anything more than self harm. I only ever sought help once and was prescribed anti-depressants which didn't help much because they were treating a symptom rather than the root cause.
In mid-late 2021, work placed me on a series of coaching sessions with a psychologist. My psychologist identified the root cause to my problems and my life started to turn around. However, the root cause placed me in a group of people with really bad mental health related statistics - depression (>70%), anxiety (~65%), self-harm(~80%), & worse (~50%) above average. I'm sure that most of you have now guessed that I am transgender - its embarrassing for me to admit that the word transgender didn't exist in my vocabulary until Sep-2021.
I started living authentically on 1-Jun and my transition has been outstanding so far. Almost everyone has accepted me - it seems that almost everyone already knew/suspected that I wasn't a boy/man between my ears. I am seeing a psychologist because of the residual pain associated with my previous existence. I have also seen a psychiatrist and am now on HRT. My choice to live authentically was the best decision of my life, my choice to start HRT was the second best (mostly because of the mental health improvements). It also seems that my body is very receptive to hormones, because physical changes started occurring after just 4 weeks (not supposed to happen before 3-6 months) - would love to find out whether there is a medical reason for this.
