I was going to post a nice tech-weenine article on VoIP and how it is a nice tool to help you save some money.  Whatever your station in life, that can be a good thing.   But I have another topic I wanted to write on instead.  Look for the VoIP article in the upcoming week.

What’s really been rattling my brain is acceptance.  Self-acceptance, if your different.  And especially if your transgendered.  Self-acceptance is the number one issue.  I thought I had vanquished this dragon until I engaged in some very meaningful dialog with some trans-folk at an email group I’m a part of run by the very talented Lacey Leigh.

As Lacey states it, so rightly in words I cannot, she says “The greatest hurdle with being transgendered is self acceptance; once that is achieved, everything else falls into place”.   The equally gifted Andrea James, on her site TS Roadmap, states it as well.  “Self-acceptance and coming to terms with your feelings are the first order of business in transition. If you are not emotionally grounded from the onset, you are going to have a difficult transition. Transition is a minor issue in comparison to self-acceptance”.

As for me, I had thought that I’d have accepted or at least come to terms with being transgendered.  I would have thought by now that I’d be completely self-accepting.   But if the definition of self-accpeting is loving ourselves  & accepting ourselves the way we are, then, I don’t think I’m there yet.  I’ve got a ways to go it appears.  I’ve traveled all over the world and seen many things in life, but, it appears, I’ve not traveled to my own heart to see what’s there and the work I need to do in accepting who I am as a transgendered person. I’m not sure exactly what that means, but, I think it has to do with loving myself as much as I’d love someone else.  I think it means giving myself room to be me, and in that knowing and trusting that I won’t become this self-centered shrew hoarding what she has till the last day.   The funny thing is, in those moments when I’ve accepted myself the most, I’ve been freer to give away the most.

Resources
The journey to self-acceptance

Self Acceptance at TS Roadmap

The
Successful Crossdresser

Changing your self-image

Self-esteem what does the Bible Say?

6/13/2010 Update
Lacey Leigh’s sight, “The Successful Crossdresser” has been taken off the net