Skip to main content

10 Feb 2024 - failing to find the courage to speak to my wife

Really disappointing to wake up with what feels like a hangover when I didn’t even drink last night. 


It’s been such a hectic week at work that I haven’t found time to write this and have barely had any chance to think about anything, least of all gender and coming out. 

Last weekend, my plan was to talk with my wife this Saturday.  I am not prepared and don’t yet know if I will.


I haven’t yet said anything but I have reshaved my legs and body hair which feels nice and am wearing knickers, tights and a crop top under my clothes.  


Four anti-trans articles in the Saturday paper today. Sigh. 


Oh no, ripped my tights pulling them up after going to the loo. These cheap tights are absolutely rubbish.  


So now I have gone to bed and I have not spoken to my wife about my being trans. I suppose that means I have failed but it is pretty negative to talk in those terms. I can make excuses that I wasn’t feeling well this morning so I wasn’t up to a difficult conversation.  My wife was in a bad mood at lunchtime.  She went to her mum’s in the afternoon. And then there was the stress of whether our son could get a train back from the football with most trains being cancelled.  The timing never felt just right.  

Or those are just excuses and I bottled out? Probably a bit of both. 

Tomorrow though, some of those barriers will not be there. I don’t need to go to the supermarket.  She has been to her mum’s so don’t need to worry about upsetting her before she goes. Son is back at uni.  The only thing happening is talking to my mum around 5pm, so having the conversation in the morning is the best time. 

I have put on my first bra to sleep in as that will let me wake up feeling feminine and give me confidence. 

What am I going to say? 

“There’s something I need to talk to you about.”

Sounds too ominous and will put her guard up.

“I have been thinking…”

No, makes it sound like a choice. 

“I’m transgender “

Too blunt.

“I want to share something with you that is not a bad thing but it is a big thing to me. I believe that I am a transgender woman.  I always have done, since before you knew me, since I was about eleven. Obviously I have not done anything about it and have lived as a man, but it is what I feel inside. It doesn’t change anything, I still love you and am attracted to you, I’m not gay and I’m not about to start going out in dresses every day. I do need to know that it’s real, or not, so I would like to make an appointment at a gender identity clinic for a diagnosis of whether I have gender dysphoria and am transgender.”

Feels like the right balance, is truthful and reasonable.  How can she be anything but supportive of that? I suspect it won’t go well but if I am ever going to do anything. I have to do this first. 


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

23 Sep 2025 - a handbag?

I have not been out presenting female in public for about six months which is a long time.   The last time was my trip to London when I went out to the bar and dinner, which felt great, and to breakfast in the hotel which was less successful. At that time, I felt confident and like I could do this.   Following my wife catching me out with some of my underwear, I cut my hair, put away my clothes and didn’t do anything for a while. It seems my confidence got lost in that too, because when I started thinking about going out dressed again, I felt really nervous about it.  Probably doesn’t help that the anti-trans lobby had successes during this time and it feels a less safe thing to be doing now than it did six months ago.  Whatever the reason, I was pretty scared this time.  The biggest mental hurdle is around changing from male to female clothing, as I have to leave the office and arrive at the mall in male clothing, then be back in male clothing to go home so...

27 May 26 - does my brain actually have a “girl mode”?

As I keep reflecting on my night out as Nicola last week there are a lot of questions and ideas that are swirling around in my head.  One is, whether my brain has a “girl mode”, because I felt so different and behaved in ways that were unfamiliar to me.  The really distinct difference in how I felt this time was that I didn’t feel like I was a man in a dress at all, I just felt like me. I remember thinking that this is what it is like to be “inhabiting womanhood”. Evidently I have ridiculously pretentious notions after a few drinks, but it was what I was feeling. This is what it is like to actually be a woman. Less pretentious.  An odd thing, but one which does make me wonder if my brain has some kind of “switch”, is that I looked at women differently. I am exclusively attracted to women and I am attracted to boobs and bums as much as the next man (cringe at associating with being a man). I know it is impolite to stare at a woman’s chest, and I make a conscious effort no...

21 May 2026 - a night out

Having a night on my own in London, I wanted to go out presenting female and get some more “real life experience”.  I had drinks and dinner with some colleagues early evening and to be honest had already had too much wine before I went out later by myself. This probably helped my confidence, although not my coordination with nail polish and mascara, which were a bit slapdash to say the least.  I remember last year getting in a lift in the hotel in a dress ready to go out, and being self conscious of people staring at me. This time, didn’t give it a thought. Likewise going into the underground and being on the train with other people. I didn’t notice if anyone looked at me and nor did I care. I was just me being me and wearing a skirt didn’t feel like a Thing, I wasn’t conscious of my clothes at all.  Similarly walking through a busy Soho to the bar, I just felt like I normally do walking around town.  Got to She Soho. Amazingly the bouncer asked me for ID. I’m 51...