Joy and humor

Having a sense of joy and humor about being transgender is pretty much essential. I was pretty devoid of it growing up but learned to develop one because otherwise life the way we are would be considerable less joyful. Untreated (or even under treated) gender dysphoria is not a fun thing to begin with.

Admittedly this is far easier today and what helped was looking up and realizing how many people with challenges find the positives and even celebrate their situation. There were people in wheelchairs who had a more jovial attitude than I used to at my rock bottom. This represented a complete loss of perspective on my part.

I laugh at myself far more readily and people can easily recognize the lightness I carry which is more often than not steeped in joy.