Hey @indigoflame0812316 Welcome.    You said you wanted advice? What advice do you want? I mean that genuinely, because you seem to have a lovely handle on what you want to try, and that your wife feels supportive?   More people should know this, like it's some socially hidden secret, but, clothing and makeup is not gendered. You can genuinely wear and try ANYTHING YOU WANT. it won't change who you are, at all, BUT it might make you feel more comfortable, or happier or more like other people can see how you feel you should be seen.    And you said, you spoke to your wife and SHE thinks you want to be a woman? But you didn't say that YOU feel like a woman? How do YOU feel?    Being transgender, or cross dressing, or ANY flavour of LGBTQ+ is PERFECTLY fine, and good. You can wear and present and be whoever, but do it because it comes from YOU.  THAT'S the adventure. And, for me, it has been full of joy. So, I wish that for you. 

I really want you to feel respected and cared for and you are entitled to need to engage in ways that work for you. So, I feel like I want to know What relationships have you had a problem with? Talk me through what the problems look like? I ask this only because, I'm OLD, and you know you can't connect usefully with everyone, and SOMETIMES the person you are trying to connect with ALSO struggles with relationships and you could *just* be misunderstanding each other. And, are the people who call you crazy people you would take advice from?    Also, I *need* to say to you that, being autistic does not mean you cannot have successful relationships. It does not mean that you don't deserve respect, and ALSO, relating to others is a LEARNT SKILL. You can learn. If you want to. BUT you can learn, in ways that WORK for YOU. You are allowed to connect to people in YOUR way, you just need to work out what that means for you and other people you WANT to connect with.    I have absolutely no evidence for this. I don't believe you are a bad person AT ALL.    I don't tell a lot of people this, but, when I was just about 16, I went to a dr for help, because I couldn't settle in my life, and couldn't make friends and couldn't fit in, and felt AWFUL. I *was* diagnosed. And for about a decade I bounced around between school / psychiatric hospitals and on various hard core psychotropic medications. Bipolar.    NO meds worked for me. And EVENTUALLY, about a decade or so later, after months in hospitals, and doing loads of MANDATED therapy, and trigger training and such, I was allowed to stop  all of them (slowly and responsibly) and then I spent all the way until a very short whole ago being extra careful of ALL the things. BUT. It turns out that A LOT of people with real trauma get misdiagnosed with bipolar, so, being diagnosed really just covered up actual solvable problems, and the stigma that goes with such a diagnosis really impacted my life. For NOTHING.    I got my life together, proper jobs and a family and all kinds of good things. BUT, it is only NOW that I am really working through the trauma and the real life stuff, with a person I CHOOSE to work with. And it is life changing. I have MUCH work to do.    This is NOT your story. BUT, I want to say to you, PLEASE get whatever help you need. If you can. A good therapist that you can trust with your REAL things is genuinely transformative. BUT, you don't need to rush to any kind of ADDITIONAL diagnosis. You don't have to BE labelled to be HELPED (although if you NEED a diagnosis it's FINE)  I have shared my story because I can share a story that goes ALL the way from start to completely out the other side, and I can say, a diagnosis can be a double edged sword, and actually, learning who you are and what you need, and recognising what has happened to you and for you, and what you NEED to be safe and to feel loved is ALL important.    You deserve to feel safe and loved, and you know, people are allowed to be clingy and intense. And people can learn WHY that works for them, and they can learn how to do something that works better for them. With OR without a diagnosis. 

@indigoflame0812316 welcome to the forums ! You and i are in very similar situations so its very nice to meet you!    I am also AMAB and 32 years old. I paint my nails all the time now and have discovered that although there is a massive association around it, lots of straight men paint their nails. I also however have recently been doing a lot of cross dressing and enjoying the way it makes me feel and again this doesnt necessarily mean anything other than liking femininity.    What i would reccomend is give it a go. Paint your nails, wear some different clothes, put on some makeup and see how it makes you feel. Your wife loves you for you and the fact that you've had the convo is an amazing place to start. A lot of the time the hyper masculine toxic stuff is just a cover for your real thoughts and feelings. You can always start slow and feel free to drop me a message or post any other questions you have as a fellow questioning AMAB ill do what I can to be helpful 😀  

Hi, @indigoflame0812316! Welcome to TGP. We're glad to have you here.   I think you explained yourself very well. That's wonderful that your wife is accepting (even welcoming, maybe?) the changes in you and that it's brought you closer. This is what I hope for everyone who reveals themselves to their spouse.   You mentioned you need advice. Feel free to ask anything. I'm sure folks will do their best to answer your questions.

You might find she was attracted to you for your feminine traits in the first place.

Well today has been an amazing euphoric day. I feel very feminine and wearing a tube top with a pleated skort. I'm going to start saving up for butt, hip and breast injections. I'm going to hold off on SRS for now due to just how expensive it is. I have experienced a lot of body dysphoria and I finally opened up to the wife and she recommended those injections to get done first to help out with my depression. I'm going to put a lot of focus on the butt with exercising and I'm getting an EMS pair of shorts to stimulate the muscles during workouts to make it more intense. I hope to have more euphoric days. I'm going to stop posting negative posts on Facebook and post funny dad jokes, uplifting and encouraging posts. I'm thinking if I start thinking more positive thoughts my negativity won't be so bad. I still have my RC car that will be a fun hobby. 

You aren't a bad person and you deserve to be treated with respect.   As someone who was bullied when I was at school. I feel this deeply. Its hard to not be harsh on yourself when others are doing it as well.  Just know you are who you are and if people are calling you intense or clingy that is very much a them problem and not a you problem. As hard as it might sound, you WILL find the right people and friends and relationships. People who love you for "YOU"   You find when your older that certsin relationships naturally come to an end and new ones can be made. I dont know the full situation you are in but from my own experience, some of the best, most accepting friends of mine were found after i let older more toxic relationships fizzle out (not through choice i might add). This may not be the case but you deserve to be happy. Yeah this is very common for autistic individuals. I got a diagnosis for autism when i was 28! So quite late in life. The autism made a lot of my life and struggles, especially with relationships make a lot of sense. Just remember that you are your autism as much as neurotypical people are their brains as well. Similarly to what ive said above you will find that as you grow you will find other (potentially autistic) people who you really connect with. As hard as it might be. Try to be kind to yourself because the world is not set up to accommodate you. So by existing in the world and making your way through it. Things will be difficult but your managing it anyway. 

One way I like to think about it. Is even in straight/masculine/feminine circles there is a whole range of ways people express themselves.    Take men for example. You get men that go to the gym, shave their hair short, grow their beards in a certain way to be as masculine as possible whereas others hate facial hair, have rounder faces and do quote unquote non masculine hobbies.    There is no one way to be trans. You have always been you, and you have always been trans. Without sounding like a cliche, some people like to make certain aspects of themselves big parts of their personality and others don't. Neither choice makes you any more or less that part of yourself.   I do get what your saying though. There are certain feelings, experiences or "happenings" that feel like they are essential to having a trans experience and so if I havent had them. Can I call myself trans. But similarly to what ive said above. I still consider myself a man currently, however there are many MANY male experiences that I have not experienced and probably never will but that doesnt isolate me from being one. So i try to think about it in that way and know that i am me. My experiences are valid. And i dont have to prove to anyone that I belong as i am. This is very much true for you as well.    And again for what its worth I don't think your boring I think your great so if your dont trust in yourself. Trust in the me that trusts in you haha  

The book Am I Trans Enough really helped me with this when I read it, but, sometimes, I just feel like I'm still exactly the same me. And *really* YES. EXACTLY SO. OF COURSE I AM. I have always been this much trans, and that's fine. BUT I feel like because I don't really DO anything trans (apart from ALL the things that cis gendered people consider in non medical presentation, but, presentation is just paint really.) ALSO because I don't feel unsafe or like I need to be extra careful. I feel like if my experience of life is a trans experience, then, I don't really need to be bothering folks on a forum, it's just my boring regular life! WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT IT SHOULD BE.   Mostly I am doing a lot of over thinking for no good reason!    It's not so much the kids, but their dad that hurts my thinking on this. 

@Pema LOVE your garden, that is wonderful.

I get downvoted to hell if I say this on Reddit and stuff, but I've always had a problem with relationships, maybe it's my autism, maybe not, who knows? But I've always been too "intense" and called crazy or yandere. I'm only 15 years old. I need to discuss with a professional, but here are some things I wrote.   "I'm gonna get professional help and find out what's wrong. It'll be hard though since I have autism and I'm a teen and I heard they don't diagnose autistic teens but a person who hates me said that so IDK if I can accept his comments as fact or not, we used to be friends until he started hurting me and being rude. Anyway, IDK what it could be but I do have problems. If you come here to damage my self-esteem, please don't, but you can share your experiences. I already acknowledge I'm a bad person. I do respect her boundaries, but I also feel like I can't form a connection with her. She says we're friends, but people have said she wants nothing to do with me and that she's "just being nice", especially since she's an art account who doesn't want to look bad for her fans or whatever. IDK how true that is, but she never knows what to say when I talk to her, but then again she wants me to make art for her, so that means she doesn't hate me, right? I feel like a disgusting creep like I've been called my whole life by people for being too intense and clingy. I'm insanely obsessive, no joke. And at first, I felt rejected and decided I wouldn't talk to her, but I've calmed down and I'm too attached to cut contact entirely. She said I could message her but not every day and that she'd tell me if she didn't wanna talk. I know it's not her fault, probably not mine, maybe it is, so why do I feel so bad?? Or maybe, why DID I since I'm better now? We're friends regardless, right? She didn't just outright ghost me and call me names."   Why do I both posting on Reddit anymore? No one interacts and I just get downvoted and whatnot. Not even people with the disorder I think I have bother to sympathize and share their story...

Not feeling "trans enough" 100% is valid and something i share. Like im not "LQBTQ+ enough"    I also get the idea you mentioned of wanting to meet LGBTQ+ people but not specifically in an LGBTQ+ setting so its more than just that. This is something im not entierly sure how to do but have a similar desire.   My cousin is lesbian and has 2 children. I know it can be hard but having children doesnt make you anything other than a parent. There is no definitive way to be trans or lesbian or male or female. From my perspective you are doing great at learning who you are and what you want to be even if the bumps can he large so for whats it's worth you and all of your anxieties are valid. 😅

Well, thank you so much for your sounding board ness.    I think, because I have children, which I had in the usual way, I do not feel like I deserve to count as lesbian, but, even if I did, I don't feel, as a not woman person, that I qualify anyway.   I don't feel trans enough to count (which is a ME problem, I get that) because I am just me. And I kind of want to take T, but I am not rushing to anything, for thoughtfulness  AND because I have generally contained enough of it to cause SOME of the things people are aiming at anyway.   I do not find my tribe at Pride, and really I think that might be  because I want to meet LGBTQ+ people (I mean, ideally, of a kind that might find me interesting in all kinds of ways) who are MORE than an LGBTQ+ identity. I feel guilty, like I have somehow failed at LGBTQ-ing, and SHOULD *love* Pride and find it EASY to feel fitting in.  

This is an interesting concept. I similarly dont feel like i "fit in" with the LGBTQ+ Community. But I also dont feel like i fit in with the straight / cis community. I have friends but feel like i am yet to find "my people" if that makes sense.    I think the fact that you are so well liked on these forums is a good indicator of the fact that you most certainly DO fit in with a variety of LQBTQ+ community. But if you have theories as to why and would like to share im happy to be a sound board 😊 

Your garden is SO beautiful    And, I can be a chaotic and not orderly masculine of centre person if I *am.* it's ALL good! 

Here's a sliver of the garden this morning, before the sun hit it. We're approaching jungle stage.     This is maybe a quarter of the area. I'll get on the roof in the near future to try to capture a broader swath.     This has been an important part of my "journey" of late, specifically letting go of rigidity, order, structure, timelines. I'm finding joy in letting things "flow" more and learning to *feel* my way through what IS happening instead of insisting that they conform to my "vision."   I've heard people call these "masculine" and "feminine" ways, but I'm not convinced that they're gendered. I think they're just ways of doing life. When I observed that clinging tightly to plans and being uptight when they didn't unfold as intended was causing me to be someone I didn't want to be (and really wasn't), I chose to...stop doing it. It's really hard to unlearn behaviors we've reinforced for decades and that gave many impressions of being "successful." Now they no longer serve me and I feel much better and more "myself" without them.

So, I'm a 34 year old AMAB who is trying to figure out what they are. There are days I feel like I'm masculine, feminine, both, and neither. However, I've always wanted to paint my nails, wear makeup, and was extremely jealous of the girls growing up. I wanted to have slumber parties, be at girl hangouts, and just be around the girls. My cousins used to pick at me for sitting and walking like a girl (didn't have a dad growing up so it was all I saw.) I always felt like I needed to prove my masculinity and made some decisions I'm not proud of in high school. To make a long story short, I had this talk with my wife, who thinks I want to be a woman. Our marriage has had its ups and downs, but I believe we're closer now than we've ever been since I stopped with the toxic masculinity stuff. Anyways, I need some advice. Sorry if I didn't explain this well. Feel free to ask me questions!

Thank you so much! I'm glad to know that I'm not alone, sometimes it's challenging to feel belong somewhere. I always being myself and never giving up on myself and life goals. Hugs.

Thank you! I also looking forward to getting to know everyone here.

See ALL of this makes so much more sense to me! I am ALL the things! I don't want to miss out on a thing I don't know I love yet, because, I have shut my identity into this finished box, and now ALL I do is go to THESE places, with THESE people.    And I get that, unfortunately, there is a need for safety, BUT, staying safe by shutting ourselves in a particular place is NOT safety, it's corralling and being LESS than, just to make random others feel like THEIR pointlessly ascribed identity matters more than mine?    MY therapist LOVES pride, and it is THE place he feels safe and belonging. And he suggested that the reason I do not, is that I do not know how to identify myself, so I don't feel settled. But I don't think that's it. I think, actually, I have pretty GOOD handle on who I am, I just don't NEED it to fit in to the LGBTQ Pride box. I then thought more.    I have been considering that, if I want to find a PERSON, I need to put myself in more LGBTQ spaces, just because, the nature of who I am, and who I am attracted to means, that by default.... BUT the person I WANT to meet is a fully rounded HUMAN with interests and enthusiasms, and dreams and hopes and needs and loss and EVERYTHING, who *happens* to be LGBTQ+ And THEY are ALSO probably just getting on with their life in the world?    I live in a very SMALL and rural place, so, I almost certainly need to put myself in places where more people are, but, I am not sure, especially since I find Pride overwhelming and alienating, that meeting a person who lives for such events and spaces is a good way forward.    But then, I get all weird about it, and feel sad that I will be alone forever.    I mean, I am perfectly happy that, just by dint of existing I *am* an LGBTQ person, because that's how we describe people who happen to gender the way I do and be attracted in the directions I am.  I'm not ashamed. I don't need in any way to hide any thing about that aspect of me. I just want to be ALL the other things too!