PSA: Your Gender Journey

More and more there are stories out there about trans kids and adults and how they realized their identity or came out. This is a good thing.

However, this also leads to a false idea that there is only one correct or valid way to know you are trans/non-binary or in how and when one comes out.

The reality is that there as many ways to be trans or non-binary as there are people.

Not everyone who is trans realizes from a very early age, or is super into “cross gender” clothing or activities. Some kids learn really early what is expected of them, what is safe, and what won’t get corrected socially.

Some people are so out of touch with their emotions and themselves that it never crosses their mind that maybe their sex assigned at birth is not who they know themselves to be, because they don’t really know themselves.

Sometimes it is not until a person starts getting sober that they realized some of what they were numbing out or avoiding was the reality of their gender identity.

Despite the increased representation in the media, there are still people out there who don’t have a name for what they feel and who they know themselves to be. Sometimes it is not until they meet someone who gives them words for it that they realize they are not cisgender.

There are these and so many more journeys. Whatever the person’s journey, it is valid.

No one needs to check certain boxes to be valid in knowing who they are.