{"id":1522,"date":"2022-07-12T18:28:02","date_gmt":"2022-07-12T17:28:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tydice.com\/pink\/?p=1522"},"modified":"2023-09-28T09:13:43","modified_gmt":"2023-09-28T08:13:43","slug":"year-two-begins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tydice.com\/pink\/2022\/07\/12\/year-two-begins\/","title":{"rendered":"Year two begins&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-pale-pink-color\">The bubble has burst and the honeymoon is over, something has happened!<\/mark><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/tydice.com\/pink\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/IMG_3829-782x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1543\" width=\"231\" height=\"303\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;m trying to figure out how to say this&#8230;what has happened?  Well&#8230;my old life has gone (we will come back to that) I&#8217;m not who I used to be. <br>The first year was buying clothes, makeup and being &#8216;out&#8217;. Some fashion mistakes in there and far too much makeup. Why too much? Overcompensating I think. I so want to *&#8217;pass&#8217;  I give it a huge boost! <br>That is a mistake, if anything it works against me. I stand out as overdressed, inappropriate makeup, and not blending in. A cis woman would not do that. I have to learn how much is enough.<br>You might think, that isn&#8217;t so bad but when you get misgendered it feels worse. That is going to a big part of this post, the painfully effects of gender dysphoria.  That subconscious inner self that screams to stop this pretence!<br>I understand for each transperson this is going to be different. Some don&#8217;t care if they &#8216;pass&#8217; or not.  Others don&#8217;t venture out, or live a double life&#8230;not &#8216;out&#8217; 100% of the time. But to be called sir when you are dressed the best you can is soul destroying. And yes it does matter. The effects are cumulative and I relive it over and over.<br>Now I am Alex only&#8230;there is nowhere to go back too&#8230;so how to cope with the realisation, 12months of HRT isn&#8217;t going to transform my body into a woman. In fact in many respects, HRT does very little.  I am  on the way but nowhere near where I want to be.  <br>If you haven&#8217;t started HRT it is important to understand the process can take years. There are feminising changes happening&#8230;.but very slowly. Don&#8217;t be taken in by those transformation photos on Google. Yes with makeup and filters you can be anyone&#8230;but in real life&#8230;you are still you. <br>How to deal with that is the subject of this post. <br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-pale-pink-color\">Be realistic about the transformation<\/mark><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Each of us has different challenges and problems. I was very fortunate, I looked a bit female to start with. Here are a few of the things that physically won&#8217;t happen: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Your bust is extremely unlikely to grow beyond an AAA cup. <\/li><li>The rib cage is going to stay male. To really approach a hourglass, remove ribs.<\/li><li>Pelvis will not change, the characteristic female shape won&#8217;t happen.<\/li><li>Voice won&#8217;t change without voice training <\/li><li>body hair thins but doesn&#8217;t stop<\/li><li>removing a beard is very expensive and painful. <\/li><li>a big butt and thighs has to be achieved surgically&#8230;<\/li><li>fat redistribution&#8230;well mine hasn&#8217;t changed that I can tell<\/li><li>Face feminisation is down to luck and how far your face can go<\/li><li>the skull doesn&#8217;t change&#8230;again FFS surgery<\/li><li>Feet\/hands don&#8217;t get smaller<\/li><li>height doesn&#8217;t change&#8230;though I beg to differ I have lost 2&#8243; in height<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Body shape is down to me. I have lost 36lbs and still dropping but it has been hard work and taken 8months. The characteristic male torso can be changed by dieting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most of the feminisation is down to correct dress, makeup, hair, voice. Also how I act, move, stand smile and interact. The inner me is the most important part of how I am perceived. I could just be an ugly male looking woman&#8230;plenty out there haha. The vital part is to be the woman inside on the outside. Voice is a dead give away as are male gestures and attitudes.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-pale-pink-color\">Finding the real you is hard<\/mark><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>No sooner had I reached the beginning of my second year than I crashed. Who was I? What did I want? for almost I week I couldn&#8217;t face the mirror, myself or even have the confidence to go out&#8230;and certainly not alone. Self confidence, like my maleness, had packed its bags and left. Selfies were out of the question&#8230;and everyone wants to see your progress. I felt a fraud, all I saw was the same me that I had always been&#8230;and it was depressing. I know my self image is distorted but somehow that doesn&#8217;t help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So what the hell was I going to do? <br>This part of the journey wasn&#8217;t anticipated, and I had no idea how to cope with it. <br>The secret for me was just do nothing, take stock of what I now was and perhaps build from that. I wasn&#8217;t where I wanted to be, I didn&#8217;t look like I hoped and often I had no enthusiasm to do anything. So what am I? The word trans has so many definitions and many didn&#8217;t sit right with me. I was reading more and learning about things I didn&#8217;t know existed. I can see now I am non binary. That ticks a lot of boxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is a big step forward to look outside of my comfort zone&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Experiences are how I move forward, I had none to call on&#8230;so that leaves me flapping like a fish out of water.  Each day I have more to call on though, friends online and family. It makes a big difference not to be doing this alone.<br>There is now a framework forming, one I have built that fits my hopes and abilities. It is partly what I want but also accepting I&#8217;m not ready for all of  it yet. Also what I can reasonable expect to end up with from HRT.<br>There are plenty of things to be decided yet as to what woman I will be. Now it is about living my new life, not just looking forward through rose tinted spectacles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>*<em>(pass=to be thought a woman in public)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The bubble has burst and the honeymoon is over, something has happened! I&#8217;m trying to&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":615,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-contributing-authors","category-main-topics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tydice.com\/pink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tydice.com\/pink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tydice.com\/pink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tydice.com\/pink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tydice.com\/pink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1522"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/tydice.com\/pink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1522\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1591,"href":"https:\/\/tydice.com\/pink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1522\/revisions\/1591"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tydice.com\/pink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tydice.com\/pink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tydice.com\/pink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tydice.com\/pink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}