#DeGenderSports | I’ve never experienced joy or love the way I do because I can love myself now

I came out as trans and started hormones in July of 2018. I would want my younger self to know that:

It's okay to be who you are. It's a scary journey, but it is extremely worth it. I have never experienced joy or love on the levels that I do now because I feel like I can actually love myself.

It’s been important to learn to be patient and to enjoy the process. Sometimes it's not going to be what you want it to be or not going to be what you expect it to be. But there's still beauty in it.

There's no wrong way to be trans, whether you want surgery, whether you don't want surgery, whether you go on hormones, whether you don't go on hormones, whether you are a trans femme person who has a lot of masculinity -- there's no wrong way to do it.

There's nobody else who can tell you who you are or how you're supposed to live. You get that freedom and you know yourself best.

It’s important to enjoy some of the slow parts of the transition and to be comfortable with being like "Yeah, you know, here's where I'm at right now. It's not where I ultimately want to be. But this is where I'm at right now. And this is part of my journey. This is part of my life. This is who I am at this moment."

There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. Everything in life is fluid. What's happening right now may not be the case five years down the road.

Be open to change, be open to you know, learning as you go.