Heck yeah, chiming in with the “parents had two names picked out” backstory. I like to tell people my mom picked my name, we just needed a little redo to correct it to the right one!

Is it? Because I’m a transwoman and my levels are all within cis woman ranges for going on a decade now, yet I’m basically full-time Chandra, Awakened Inferno unless it’s subzero temps outside.

If I could go back and talk to a younger me at the start of her transition, we’d talk about how this is the chance to ACTUALLY learn about myself and to really take time and care to not sweat the details or get stuck in a rut. Try everything and figure out what’s actually you and what is just some baggage or ideal you’re trying to live up to. Don’t be afraid to say yes. Also, don’t be afraid to say no. Keep both open as your options for everything: clothing styles, makeup (if you wanna), hair stuff, sexuality and attraction, etc.

To be clear, I still feel like I managed my way through it and found my way to a rough approximation of what’s right for me eventually, but I was often too hard on myself and placed restrictions where there really weren’t any beyond what I was enforcing on myself. It really is Puberty 2 in so many ways, and you really need to lean into the lessons about how much any of it actually matters from Puberty 1… if at all possible.

Ye cannot get ye flask.

I would deal with this, and did, the only way that you really can: take it one day at a time, have deep reserves of both patience and grace, for yourself AND others, and remind yourself that transition is a marathon, not a sprint.

Puberty sucks real bad, even when it’s the correct puberty, and there’s a whole lot of “everything at whatever pace it goes at” to the experience that can feel depressingly, agonizingly slow.

You’ll get there. Take a deep breath and, rather than focusing on all the things you need to get to and need to get started and need to navigate your way through, allow yourself a moment to celebrate the few small victories you already accomplished! Those are the building blocks that can get you to your “magic button-adjacent” future.

No tankies, Nazis, or trolls… but of course, now I’m repeating myself.