Adaptation

The adaptation to retirement is substantial especially if you've been used to high levels of stress and deadlines. You became addicted to it regardless of whether it was good for you or not and you must cleanse that from your system.

Nevertheless, that dependency was oddly helping me manage my gender dysphoria since it provided me with only alloted periods to be myself. The pandemic had given me a taste but work was still very much there. Now 100% free, it still feels odd to regale in all this luxury especially when you have a tendency to overthink and analyze everything.

The new routine is to leave in the morning. After dressing, very light makeup, earrings and a dab of lip colour is applied and I'm out the door for the entire morning to let my energy out. When you've been an early riser all your life, it's what you do.

The only difference is I'm now just another woman blending in with the others albeit a little taller than average.