Looking up and around

When you begin to solve the challenge of a lifetime you can look up and appreciate others more. Over lunch with my sister on Monday she recalled how in her view it seemed I was always frustrated.

She wasn't wrong because keeping it all together was my primary goal and took much energy. I had disciplined myself into having things work they way they were supposed to which is why unwelcome surprises brought me so much angst. In addition, the weight of a religious upbringing made managing my gender dysphoria all the more difficult.

The world looks very different now because having arrived at a workable baseline, it allowed me to look up and do away with a self-conciounness which magnified the severity of my situation. I am also older and more mature which provides me with greater perspective.

Everyone has challenges and once we learn to manage them or at least break them into more digestible morsels, it tends to lift a great weight from the psyche.