Thoughts on my first meeting with my Gender Therapist!

[Guest LilyRose]

What a day today has turned out to be. I am happy to announce that I completed my first meeting with my gender therapist and it was glorious! It went by way too fast in my opinion.

Before anything even happened, I got there too early. It's about a 2 hour drive from where I live and I arrived at 11:30 instead of noon. I made a joke about it, because I couldn't even find the building! It seemed to be hiding. I made a joke that I was looking for Hogwarts. I was being a muggle for not finding it. The receptionist said that it's good that I "received my letter" and found it okay after instructions. But it was well worth the find, because not only was the therapist wonderful to work with, so was the view.

It overlooks a large river and when you go into the office area, you get a bright beautiful view of the water. Such tranquility helped keep my nerves down. We chatted a little bit about my background and it didn't take long before I opened up about why I was there and who I truly am. I just could not stop talking and I apologized, she was fine with it. Saying that when you got something to say, you just got to say it. We wound up going on the balcony, because I just was in love with the view and it helped me open up even more.

As we talked, we did some exercises based around the members of my family and how it relates to my past. It was great to talk about that because it helped me talk about my family in an open way without fear. It was especially relieving to discuss all of the religious dogma that was placed onto me as a child. I also showed her my picture of myself in my dress and she smiled and said, "I can tell that this is truly you. You look genuinely happy." I explained that it was one of the first moments I was truly happy.

We also covered options for in person support groups and what I need to do to keep my path going. I am starting a new job soon and I will have to find a way to meet with her in the future. My new job is going to be time consuming and I can only hope that they understand that I will need some time to meet with her. She said she is also very willing to help me find therapists who might be closer to me if my job is going to be such a pain in the butt about time.

Overall, I am so HAPPY that it turned out well. I tried my best to be as honest as possible, and I could tell she noticed that. The one thing that comes to my mind the most about our meeting is one word.... "Courage"... She believed that it was amazingly courageous to be able to become an established poet and an aspiring teacher in spite of all of my pain and suffering. It made me so glad that she acknowledged this, because it was indeed so difficult for me to suppress my true self as I worked toward my ultimate career. I will have to call back to make another appointment soon, because I will continue to show my courage and continue on my journey to become the woman I know that I am!

And that's it! I'd love to hear from you about what you think about it. Sorry if this is too long!

Happy hugs and tears!

Lily Rose

[Guest Carla_Davis]

Hi Lily,

I also want to congratulate you on your "Courage".

The first step is the hardest.

I was also a teacher for 22 years until my Depression from GID forced me to retire early.

Teaching is a very rewarding profession and I wish you much Happiness doing it.

One thing that you may notice is that you cannot wait to see your GT again soon enough.

To help passing the time between visits easier is to locate a local TG Support Group in Indiana.

I cannot begin to tell you how important they were for me to be around other TG individuals and realize that I was not alone.

These groups are very helpful and often have special events through out the year.

It is a good place to make some new friends close to home.

Some TG Support Groups in Indiana you may wish to check out are:

Gender Warriors (Evansville) http://www.genderwarriors.com/
PrideLafayette http://www.pridelafayette.org/resources/gender-identity/

Your GT may also have some additional Support Groups to refer you to.

You seem to be moving along very nicely.

I wish you Success and Happiness on your Journey.

Hugs,

Carla

[Guest AlexR]

Oh gosh Lily, that is fantastic! Sorry you live so far, but definatly sounds worth every mile. I think you are going to do great and be successful in whatever you strive to do.

Hugs!

Alex

[Guest Tamar]

A lovely story Lily Rose.Thank you for sharing. I'm glad it went so well.

[Guest DianeATL]

Congratulations Lily Rose,

It is such a rush to finally get it out isn't it. I too am proud of your courage to make the appointment, go, and let it flow. The time does fly doesn't it? My first couple of appointments flew by so my third appointment I had my thoughts organized and banged out a lot of stuff in the first 15 minutes. It is great that you have someone you relate to well.

Way to go girl!

Diane

[Guest Opal]

Nice to hear that you made it early, and everything went so well! Meeting with a GT is a big step, and now you have taken it.

Huggs,

Opal

[Guest LilyRose]

Big HUGS! Thank you ladies for your support as always amazing! <3

I wish that my current job was in teaching but it's in insurance sales. But I hope that I will find something in teaching soon. I suffered so much through my pain, depression, and anxiety to get my teaching license that it doesn't even matter to me anymore. I am on my way to becoming my true self and that pain is something I don't feel anymore. Thank you so much Carla for giving me some groups to look into, even if they are very far away from me.

While it may be a long drive to get there, it was worth every second of it. I am going to become the woman I have always wanted to be, it's going to take a long while but I am on my way now! If I say I'm going to do something, I will do it. That's the stubborn grandmother in me that drives me toward succeeding in all of my goals.

It was a huge relief to come out and explain everything. I never felt better to talk about how I truly feel. I think I will try to write out a small outline of what I want to say in my second meeting. Just so I can stay on topic! lol I am courageous to have fought through it all, accomplish my goals through the pain, and now it is time to accomplish my goal of becoming a woman. There will be ups and downs, but I know that I will accomplish it! I want to be there by age 30 and that's my goal. It's going to be a crazy time but I love that you all are here for me as I do it!

Cries happy tears and hugs more. Gosh I feel so good! I need to go back ASAP.

Lots of love!
Lily Rose

[Guest LizMarie]

Connecting with a therapist is a great first step. You now have at least one person to whom you can go to talk to and ask opinions.

Congratulations!

[KathrynJulia]

You always remember that first meeting well. Congratulations Kathryn