Calculations

Transgender people have a series of calculations to make. They need to assess how every step they take forward will impact them adversely; how much of the life they lived before gets incorporated or left behind. 

It's not for the faint of heart especially if you are older. 

By far the most important aspect is their own psychology which must be able to withstand potential rejection from others. They must be able to sustain themselves outside the idea that everything will fall into place perfectly which never does in life. 

One thing I realized very concretely is that the worse case scenario you imagine doesn't happen. At the same time, assuming the ideal will occur will be equally far fetched. The truth will be somewhere in between and lean towards more positive than you had assumed. 

Also, some sort of compromise will be the order of the day if we don't entirely want to destroy everything we have built to this point. 

If fear is our main road block we will remain stuck because moving forward into the unknown always involves some level of risk. Hence, we determine whether the regret of not acting becomes more powerful than the dread of moving forward. 

We take baby steps and see how our psychology responds. It's an iterative process. 

We then ask: "Is this what you imagined living authentically would be like and are things now better or worse?"