I appreciate the followup, and I hope I didn't come off as having an angry tone in my previous post. There is no anger therein...just fatigue, you could say.
Although you aren't using '
mental illness' as a pejorative, there is a horde of others online who do so every day...and it just gets exhausting. Many of those people have no intention of listening to my family medical history or how a small percentage of the world are born with prenatal sexual differentiation. Nope...if I am forthright about being transgender, then I am immediately thought to be
batshit insane.
It's just very tiresome seeing the same thoughtless insults over and over again. It's like seeing people say things like
"All white people are racist"....
"All men are misogynistic rapists"....or
"All Democrats are murdering babies."
.
.
.
I thankfully have gotten a thicker skin over the past four years,
but I know I still have further to go. I've had a pretty stressful week, so I apologize for letting it get to me more than it normally would.
Thank you for this. As I mentioned above, this week has been pretty stressful in what has already been a fairly difficult last 15 months...and I let things get to me too much.
The thing is....my account here began immediately after the great "exodus" in October 2017. I had just been laid off of a job I loved in human resources for reasons beyond my control...basically, our group was rejoining the main building where the owners were...and they are very up and age and extremely "old-fashioned" when it came to anyone who was LGBT+. Basically, even though all my coworkers loved me and I was very well-supported, I was still unofficially let go because of my gender transition. My confidence I had previously gained took a huge dive after being unable to obtain a job for 8 months even after several great interviews, and I had begun suffering through several health issues and other at the same time. All the while, a person close to me that I had thought was my friend actually turned out to be the polar opposite...
To paraphrase...2018 was a rough year. However, something unexpected happened.
When I created this NeoGaf account, I admit I was hesitant. I had seen some offensive things being said about transgender people, and I thought I would be unwelcome here. I fully expected I would be quickly banned, but I felt I should share my story in an effort to show that trans people are not all like the fiercely angry outspoken ones that the old 'Gaf had become known for.
Instead of people just mocking my pain and what I had shared, people here were extraordinarily kind to me. I received many incredibly sweet messages of support and asking me to stay. Even though I didn't post very often, I still managed to make actual
friends here. My confidence started growing again...and I owe a lot of that to NeoGaf.
So, that's what I need to remember. Just as in normal everyday life, some people are going to say things that are hurtful...but just because their words may be hurtful, it doesn't mean they
meant it that way. Well-meaning words can be hurtful, but still said with love.
.
.
.
Sorry...I'm not sure where I was going with this...but just, thanks.
Thanks,
everyone.
(I'm feeling better now.)