Skip to main content

'There is no one way': Striving for perfection

(Foundry/Pixabay)

I wish I could remember the creator or even the group I saw it in, but there was this graphic/meme that said, "There's no one way to be trans." While the exact verbiage is lost on me, I remember it going into detail about what it meant, and how not always presenting as your identity doesn't make someone less trans.

I know I'm transgender, despite how awkward it still feels to say out loud after having suppressed it for so long. And yet, I'm forced as of right now to live mostly in "boy mode."

To say that is stressful would be an understatement. It's outright fucking miserable most times.

But, does having to be in boy mode so much make me any less of a transgender woman? The obvious answer is no. And, despite knowing that, I still struggle so deeply with my identity having to look at a male face and body every time I look down or in a mirror.

I am a perfectionist in everything I do. I am, as the saying goes, my own worst critic. In nearly every case, that can be a good thing in that I do my best work under pressure. In this case, however, I feel utterly less-than.

I've never been the type that I say "I feel trapped in someone else's body." That's just not what it is. Instead, it's a silent self-loathing.

I've never liked the way I looked, even when i dropped 125 lbs, wore nice clothes, and had really unique haircuts. I experimented with everything I could and just felt empty with the reflection looking back at me.

In comparison, when I'm me, I even said out loud to one of my partners, "I don't hate me right now." And, I never have. It's a full, joyous feeling that exudes confidence, passion, and inner beauty. I feel so deeply whole.

I sit in places like work where I'm having to live in boy mode and just feel empty. My stomach hurts, I start shaking, I avoid mirrors. I feel like I'm betraying myself.

It is for those reasons that, just because I'm not where I want to be, I'm not any less of a transgender woman. I'm just forced to live under the circumstances life has dealt me right now.

Being trans can mean anything to anyone.

My advice for anyone going through this, keep something on you to keep you grounded so you don't feel disconnected from your identity. And keep a journal with your goals listed on it. Pick one of those goals and just work on it every day. Mine today is my voice.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Ulike Air 10 - First impression

Ulike Air 10 Okay, so we're poor bitches and don't have the money for professional laser hair removal. So, after weeks of research, we decided to give the Ulike Air 10 IPLE Hair Removel Device a try. The device, while heavy, isn't as heavy as I'd have imagined. It is somewhat bulky, but with the cooling fan in the device, it is to be expected. The controls are simple, albeit it took me a minute to figure out how to turn the auto flash on. The selling point of being "mostly painless" is very accurate. But, let me tell you, when it bites, it bites. I'm using SHR mode on my beard considering how thick it grows in and, on that fourth flash, it's a noticeable sting. I'm currently 5 days into using the device, doing a different body part each day so as to not repeat days and body parts. It boasts results in as little as two weeks, which is great because that's precisely when I will be when I will be ring announcing for ProSouth Wrestling again. I...

'Taxation Without Representation': The death of the United States

Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images I'm a student of history. As a young woman in school, history was always the one class - with the exception of art and computer sciences - that I typically excelled at. One of the primary grievances the American Colonists had with England in the lead-up to the American Revolution was that they had no representation in the British government. Instead, they were ruled by a monarch half a world away. As I continue to digest everything that happened yesterday in Washington, D.C., I'm reminded of those words and how the colonists in the 1700's felt they were not represented by the government under which they lived. There are many things - if not outright all of them - that I strongly disagree with from yesterday, but I'm going to try (and fail) to focus on just one. In an email delivered to the White House press pool yesterday just prior to Mr. Trump taking the oath of office, this was at the bottom of a long list of "Day One" prio...

*Sobbing rant* I am not okay...

( Eleatell/Pixabay) I understand that as I write this, there is no one that actually reads this blog. However, to anyone who may go back through what I suspect will be many, many posts and find this, I give this warning: This is going to be a sobbing, all-over-the-place, possibly incoherent mess. I. AM. NOT. OKAY. I have had to be in boy mode for 8 days and counting. And my soul feels like it's on fire! And not just that, there are other things going on that do not fit the purpose of what I want this blog/site to be, so I'll not comment on that.  I went to ProSouth Wrestling LAST Friday, and that was the last time I was able to feel and look like myself. That was the last time I was able to comfortably look at a mirror. That night was nothing short of a sleep-deprived, magical experience. So validating and amazing. I heard MY name dropped SO MANY times. I got to play dress up, gendered properly, named properly, all the things. It was so amazing! And since then, it's been no...