I am experiencing this as well. I’m few months into HRT and its had a remarkable effect on my mood, and that changes a ton.

I still lack some amount of self reflection, as I didn’t notice this change until reading your post. Making your brain comfy has some very far reaching effects.

ur great too :3

I’m about 3 months in. Breasts are noticeable if know to look for them. Still plausibly just defined pectorals to those not in the know.

Changes are cumulative. More to come!

Weird right wingers kept going on about trans people, and I wanted to be informed about it and learned a few things about myself in the process.

I genuinely had no idea for most of my life. The signs were there all along but only in retrospect. It took me 2-3 years of questioning before I started transitioning. I was not ever truly certain I was trans until I started HRT, and everything started to feel fine, like genuinely fine. Didn’t realize I was depressed from dysphoria my entire life because I had no point of comparison.

I certainly envy the trans people who were able to learn they were trans at an early age. The best time to transition is just before the start of puberty, the second best time is now.

How’d it go? Notice anything?

Fat will deposit in more feminine places but there is no mechanism to actively remove it from elsewhere. That’s why trans men need top surgery. Hormones can only make they cannot unmake.

You do burn fat and it is removed everywhere in an impartial way. Expect changes to take time.

Sometime soon your nipples will start to get sore and hurt. That means things are developing!

That is pretty normal. Skin was the first noticeable change for me.

What surprised me most in the first month was how similar everything felt. Your body has no way to consciously perceive your hormone levels directly. You will notice the effects. Skin and mood are often the first.

You’re not imagining things The E is working! Congrats on getting started!

Being trans really does give an unfair advantage in chess somehow… and so does wearing jeans.

I’m sure a trans woman wearing jeans would be so powerful at chess FiDE would have to invent a title above grandmaster.

I love the enunciation. There’s an elegance and poise to the consonants that I wish I could do myself.

It does however sound inauthentic, mostly in the tone and pitch. The tone is thin, and the pitch range is really compressed. You seem to be speaking as high as possible constantly, so you have no room to raise and lower your pitch during phrases.

Women’s voices are way lower than many people realize. Your recording is pretty illustrative of why most literature on voice training stress the importance of resonance over pitch.

The US did issue passports with an x gender marker. The first one was issued in 2021 after a lawsuit, and the option was on the official paperwork in 2022. Most would usually advise against doing so as many countries do not recognize the X gender, and would deny entry as a result. Be aware of where you want to travel and that those countries are accepting before you commit to the X marker.

That was before the newest administration. It remains to be seen how things will play out in future as many executive orders will be blocked in the courts. Executive orders are the lowest tier federal legislation, overruled by nearly everything else.

You have to do what you have to do to be safe. I understand. Take care of yourself. <3

Despite your real life circumstances, at least while you’re here, the title of trans woman is yours if you choose to accept it.

If the effects of HRT sound magical to you, there’s a reasonable probability you could be trans.

I spent years reading trans communities on the internet, out of interest, while assuming I wasn’t trans myself. Now that I have started transitioning, my only regret is not starting sooner.

Thanks for sharing! If you ever do find yourself on a stage, do let me know.

I have experienced all of the emotional changes you describe. It turns out I was depressed the whole time and thought it was normal. I too was unaware of the general edge everything had.

My libido is also gone, but it was mostly an annoyance for me so no notes.

I’m definitely going to try cannabis again. It felt like a placebo honestly. Maybe it will be different now.