Living a Real and Authentic Life - Choice . . . Not

It's a choice

A very common miss used phrase is "choice"!  I have not met a single person dealing with their Gender as a choice. It doesn't make this journey in life easier, in fact, it adds a great deal of complexity for all involved.

I was naive when this process began to assume gender transition was happening to me, but my transition happens to everyone in my life. While it is my story to tell, they also have their story to tell.

Back to choice, the only aspect which may be perceived as the choice is to ignore this and just continue as you were before. The outcome of ignoring gender dysphoria results in greater than 50% suicide rate, is the choice really deal with my gender dysphoria or death? Do you really consider that a valid choice?

If you are not part of the 50% plus demographic what does life look like; confusion, unhappy, guilt, shame, self-destructive behaviours, and much more.

That doesn't sound like much of a choice, so dealing with Gender Dysphoria is what we do because we have to as those others are not a choice.

Living a Real and Authentic Life - Gate Keepers

Are you crazy?

No one has actually asked me that question but a lot of questions about the process have been asked, and allow me to assure you that the "gate keepers" are doing their job.

The "Gate Keepers" are generally referred to as those key medical individuals who hold the key to you advancing through a Gender Confirmation journey.

There are two Medical Doctors, one Nurse Practitioner, one  Psychologist, and one Therapist, and a bunch of bureaucrats who collectively are the gate keepers who work together at times to ensure that you are a suitable candidate for this journey.

When you get to the stage of surgery considerations you can add a surgeon to that list of those who must validate your passage.

I am at the stage of exchanging information with a surgeon, which means in order to get here all those people had to agree that I was suitable and all information collected by the bureaucrats met the medical criteria of gender dysphoria.

I have had 3 medical professionals give me a diagnosis supporting gender dysphoria, I have had 2 mental health professional give me a diagnosis of gender dysphoria. The bureaucrats must have been satisfied with everyone's reports aligning that I have gender dysphoria.

This diagnosis of gender dysphoria by these professionals validates that I am who I say I am, not some sort of fallout from another issue. As gender dysphoria is being de-listed from the

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders(DSM–5) medical documents as a mental health issue by the World Health Organization (WHO), that validates I am not alone in this journey, I am dealing with something very real, and I am not crazy.

Thanks for listening . . . HUGS!