Everyone always says once you transition you are much happier, almost every study that looks at transition backs this up. Lots of reasons are given for this, the usual "body aligning with mind" phrase tending to come out. And yes it certainly is a part of it.
But the other day I realised why I feel so much happier now I'm full time. Believe it or not, I finally know what "normal" people feel like. What it is like to no longer going through the mental process of what is the socially expected response for whatever particular gender I am presenting as and then executing that response. No more looking at some woman and wondering what it feels like to be her, I know what it feels like to be her, it feels exactly like what it feels like to be me. What it is like to slip easily into a conversation with a group of women without having to justify why I want to talk to them rather than their partners who bore me to tears.
Funny how I am far more "normal" now than I ever was as a man.