Annika's Way Cool Article

Annika (Penelope) wrote an excellent article about her transition, "Ten Things I Wish I'd Known When I Started My Transition", found on Autostraddle or the Huffington Post. She is at the end of her second year and getting on with her life just being a woman (transanything optional to her now).

I would only add a few things. First, don't make your transition front and center of your life, make it fit within your existing life, work, school, career, whatever. The point being you will get through your transition but your life, etc. will continue as you will be then.

It's easy to make your transition a focus as it's important to get through it with all the work for it, therapy (more about that), medical tests, hrt, surgeries, legal stuff, etc., not to mention the family and friends, social world and network, clothes, etc.

But try hard to make it fit into your life. Be yourself with everything else and your transition will blend into the whole array of being yourself. That is what's most important, life, now and in the future, when you're through your transition and living as yourself.

This is where many make the mistake to focus on their transition to find themselves afterward without much of a life, maybe or maybe not work and especially a career, and likey broke if not in debt for years if not decades.

If it takes your transition a little longer to live through it better on the other side, do it, you'll be and feel better for it because you won't have all the problems you created earlier or during your transition. Don't create problems you don't need or want.

Second, therapy is key, not for who you are, that's given and known, but what you will go through and how to survive. A good therapist is a god send to be there to listen, ask questions, give advice, in short, help you mentally with all the aches, pains, problems, troubles, etc. There will be many.

Third, make your heatlth and fitness top priorities. Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) will change everything and not everyone's mind and/or body is tolerant of some of the HRT drugs or dosages. Don't crash your mind or body, it's not worth it so find a way to transition with the optimium dosage of HRT.

Fourth, I agree, you can't have enough money. If you're lucky, like Annika, to pass without facial surgery or want breast augmentation surgery, all you need is money for your sex affirmation surgery, especially if it's not covered by insurance.

Don't underestimate the medical costs, especially if you don't have access to a free or low-cost clinic for therapy, basic physician services and low-cost HRT. While employers will cover these, the vast majority in health insurance companies explicitly don't cover it.

As for losing privilege, yes, it's a reality, but less if you're older as you have a career you can rely on if you keep it. The mistake many make is walking away from their career and lose an advantages they had to start over as women, or worse as "transwomen."

This where many make the mistake to go fulltime before they're ready, mentally and physically and with life and work. Some are lucky to have good employers but many aren't and find themselves unemployed and unemployable.

The advantage of being older is you have a little more freedom from being socially or fashionably conscious of your appearance. Not to say it doesn't hurt to be, it's less important as older women have less interest if they choose and only for those occasions where it's expected.

All in all, Annika's article is great advice.