There is a tendency within the forum for people to think only their experience is valid, and only the people that agree with them make any sense.

I have heard of a few, but very few, women who have transitioned and there were no tears except tears of joy. I have never met anyone with that experience yet.

There are women who transition, suffer through tears and pain, and come out the other side with the support of the people they’ve loved all their lives, including spouses. These types of stories are rare as well, but they happen.

It appears that most women go through hell at some point, lose everyone they love, and the fortunate ones get some, or even most of those people back in their lives. This has been my experience thus far. I told my s.o. I was TS almost 10 years ago. She has only recently come to grips with that fact, and I’ve cried more in the last few months than in the rest of my life combined. We love each other deeply, but both of us doubt the relationship will survive, even though we are doing everything we can to make it work. I told my mom about 5 years ago. She told me how much she loved me and how she will always support me. She and I are no longer speaking, because she can’t deal with my transition. In both cases, what started off well went to crap.

I really do hope that your supporters stay supportive. It can happen and isn’t unheard of. I do think it is wise to listen to some of the people who have been hurt too. I’m an optimist, but the only way to survive and not become cynical and jaded and lose that optimism is to hope and pray for the best, but prepare for the worst.
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"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." Henry David Thoreau

His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
Jesus answered, "Neither he nor his parents sinned; it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him. "
John 9:2-3

Mahatma Ghandi, though a devout Hindu, was widely known to admire Jesus; Ghandi often quoted from the Sermon on the Mount, in fact. Once when the missionary E. Stanley Jones met with Ghandi he asked him, "Mr. Ghandi, though you quote the words of Christ often, why is that you appear to so adamantly reject becoming his follower?"
Ghandi replied, "Oh, I don't reject your Christ. I love your Christ. It's just that so many of you Christians are so unlike your Christ."