When I was young I would play make believe games and stuff with friends, probably common. Less common was that at some point when I was pretty young I started playing a female character. Every time. And I would always choose women in video games. I started wishing I could be a woman. Would wish on shooting stars, or when I blew out birthday candles to be a woman. Clearly that was what everyone did though, nbd (I’m dumb). 20 years later with failing mental health I had a break and just couldn’t take it.

Something that helped was that by this point, I had learned more, knew what being trans was, there were more role models or at least some visibility, and I finally stopped repressing and started my own journey.