Pretzels

Looking properly after ourselves involves boundaries and lots of self-respect. No, not hubris but basic self-care. 

Older Transgender people in particular have a bad history with this subject because in addition to everyone else's penchant for self-flagelation they carry an additional burden by virtue of their understanding that they don't fit in. The impact on the psyche is unquestionanle. 

I knew from a young age this was something to be eliminated and it took me years of figure out how to incorporate it into my existence. Getting rid of the reflexes to criticize the self is part of the exercise of healing the psyche. 

This is why I am so glad for youth who can come out early in life and seek help. They can avoid the years of psychological twists and turns which forced many of us into difficult justifications and over compensations which bent us into pretzels.