Dust in your mouth.....
if you are transsexual and you come up with decades of reasons to not transition....this is your likely fate....i spit the dust out when i was 48 years old... i accomplished so much in my life...great kids...so much love...great job...none of it felt "right"...it all fell apart..i am not the only one of course...
in the end, if everyone could boil it down to simple quality of life that would be great, but as humans we are not well suited to predict the future and its really hard to face current consequences in comparison to future unknowns..
all don't transition unless you "have to" means is that its a serious thing and flirting around with the idea as a lifestyle choice is idiotic and not productive...
the statement also reflects how many times we must simply accept huge and destructive short term consequences to proceed...we accept those consequences because we "have to"...perhaps it makes it easier to swallow for some people..
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and fwiw my transition was wildly successful...i'm authentic passable and real...all done at 50... i live how i please...i feel alive...my kids, my ex, my family all accept me... they saw how it improved my life....they responded to my better self....
it took 5 years of hell to push the button, and 3 years of really hard work to execute it but i wouldn't trade my path for anything.... i think fighting for those 5 years was what it took for me to have the confidence and internal fortitude to keep going when it seemed really bad (telling kids...wife hating me...giving up on my job...deep deep depression...).... if i didnt "have to", i have no idea if i could have gone on...
so if "you have to", then i say you simply do it and you do it as best you can... you treat all around you like gold and go about your business and make no mistake transition is business in the end...whether you are 20 or 80