Starting steps

[Guest]

I've started doing "something". I finally got a local trans* support group for the first time. I hadn't realized just how much everything was weighing down on me. Just introducing myself brought such an up welling of repressed feelings that it brought me to tears. I met some great people, found a glimmer of hope, and learned about a great local therapist group. I'm not sure if I'm any closer to finding my answers, but I do feel like there is hope in finding them eventually now. I've started taking steps in the right direction.

~Tallie

[VickySGV]

Getting support and GIVING support to others is how we take our major steps in this madhouse of a life. You have come out and admitted you needed help and that is utterly fantastic. It was trying to keep my secrets from everyone, and also a brief attempt to put a genie back in a bottle that had me probably hours from death. You have come further along than you will believe for some time, but it won't be all that long before you can look back, and scare yourself with how far and fast it has been.

[Charlize]

Tallie being honest with ourselves and others requires that we become somewhat vulnerable as well. I hid in part because of the fear that i would be mocked. Wonderfully i found that as i gained a bit of confidence that fear has gone. That was completely the product of me slowly finding the first small steps of opening up in a safe environment until my higher power gave me the ability to be really be honest about myself and open to the world.

You are making those first steps and will find the path exciting and liberating.

My life is now happier and more open than it has ever been as an adult and i enjoy each day in ways i would have never dreamed in the closet, ashamed and afraid. We are here to he;lp each other just like your support group.

Welcome. You never know where your path will take you so try to enjoy each step.

Hugs,

Charlize

[gennee]

Support groups are wonderful places where you can meet others and where you don't have to feel your out on an island. Support group helped me in the early days of coming out to understand what I was goinv through. I met some wonderful people in the process.

[Guest Carla_Davis]

Hi Tallie,

I am very happy to read that you joined a Transgender Support Group.

I have always been a big supporter of TG Support Groups.

It is a great place to meet and make new friends.

You realize that you are not alone in your feelings.

In addition, the members are usually in various stages of their transition and are a good source of “First Hand” information, especially in regards to good gender therapists.

Being transgender can often lead to social isolation and depression, and being a part of a Supportive Transgender Group often increases your socialization and decreases your depression.

I cannot tell you how many times that I would break down crying in Support Groups, opening myself up to the Group and sharing my painful past memories and thoughts.

Support Groups also allow you to build up Self-Esteem and Self-Confidence by being around other people who have similar feelings as yourself and accept you completely.

In addition to attending Support Groups, Volunteering can be very rewarding and Life-Saving.

When I was Coming-Out, I volunteered at The LGBT Community Center of NYC.

Excerpt of a previous post on Laura’s Playground:

I would like to share with you a Life-Changing and Life-Saving story about ME.

I used to attend “MY CENTER” aka “The LGBT Community Center in NYC” They are located at 208 W. 13^th Street., NYC. http://gaycenter.org

I am very PROUD to say that they “Literally” saved my life from Suicide when my whole family disowned me and also did terrible things to me. I also volunteered there for approx. 2 years. I considered it a “SAFE HOUSE” where I could get away from all my pain and suffering at home.

Before leaving, I presented them with a plaque with the following saying.

Making a Difference
An old man walked up a shore littered with thousands of starfish, beached and dying after a storm. A young man was picking them up and flinging them back into the ocean. "Why do you bother?" the old man scoffed. "You're not saving enough to make a difference." The young man picked up another starfish and sent it spinning back to the water. "Made a difference to that one," he said.

You make a difference every day.

“The Center” made a “Life-Saving” difference to me and I would like to use my PASSION to RETURN that favor to someone else in NEED.

I wish you Success and Happiness on your Journey.

Hugs,

Carla