Hobbies or is dressing our hobby or is it our life?

[xcdmargo]

Just wondering. It seems like dressing takes up so much time does it interfere with living a fully rounded life. Do we still have time to enjoy other things in life?
Sometimes it seems like I can spend days thinking about dressing, surfing the web, shopping, or just going out dressed.

Does that make sense?

margo

[Karren H]

Actually Ice Hockey is more my life..... Everything else is a hobby.... Where I spend time between games! Lol.

[Kaz]

Yeah, it makes sense... sometimes I do work... but I can do that underdressed, I play guitar in a few blues/rock bands, but I can do that under and overdressed, I am actually into lots of things and my life is far too busy! CDing is just part of who I am I guess... I never see it as a 'hobby'?

[suzy1]

I agree with Kaz
A hobby is when I build a modal ship. Suzy is part of who I am.


SUZY

[Miss Maxine]

My hobbies are a part of my life and a part of who I am. So, with that in mind, Maxine is both a hobby and a lifestyle.

[Kaz]

Maxine, as logic, that rocks! :eek:

[suchacutie]

My hobbies come and go. I spend a lot of time with them for a while, and then something else takes over and I spend time with that.

Tina never stops. I may transform to her more or less frequently, but Tina is always there as a part of me. She's not a hobby :)

[Miss Maxine]

Tina never stops. I may transform to her more or less frequently, but Tina is always there as a part of me. She's not a hobby :)

I believe that many of us, here, can relate to that. Maxine has always been a part of me. I've just finally made the decision to let her out into the world.

[docrobbysherry]

I agree, Margo. Only Sherry is more like a COMPULSION for me.

I've had a number of hobbies before her.
But, they never kept me from my friends, turned my house, car, and garages into unkept messes or made me miss so much TV!

[Kittyagain]

Margo, getting beautiful, reading on this forum eats up a lot of time. I have to set limits reading the post here since they are so interesting. A hobby I would say maybe but a passion, now that might be a better description.

Margo, are you like me in that once dressed and pretty, I find myself not wanting to do much to keep from getting undone you might say?

Kitty

[VioletJourney]

Crossdressing is NOT who I am. It's what I do. I am also an obsessive musician but that doesn't make it any more than a hobby for me.

[Lynn Marie]

I'm thinking that my CDing maybe started as a hobby, but now it is more of a compulsion that I keep in check.

[kimdl93]

Its a quite a bit more than a hobby to me...its a substantial part of who I am, regardless of how I may be dressed at any given moment.

[eluuzion]

Crossdressing is just one more toy in the toy box for me. Ok, ok...it is one of my favorite toys. There, I said it...:heehee:

The key to controlling "hobbies" is time management. If it starts taking over other areas of your life, like work...you cut back on your work hours. Then you go to part-time. Then you become self-employed. Then if you are old enough, you just say your are "retired" or "really tired" or "semi-retired".

See, it is easy! It is just a matter of adjusting your priorities and mastering the art of self-deception. :heehee::D:heehee:

Ok, seriously...when anything in my life starts affecting my ability to satisfactorily meet any/all of the other commitments and responsibilities I have in my life...I address it promptly. I am just too "controlled" to let that happen I guess. Balance is happiness...:drink: for me anyway...

I am too curious to let any one interest override the rest...with the exception of my family...they always come first...

:love:

[wanagione]

Amy is aways around, it's who I am. Riding my bicycle is my hobby.

[Katie83]

Katie is part of me, she always has been and always will be. I make time for Katie, but my hobbies have to wait until there is some free time (and money).
Katie

[StaceyJane]

Accepting who I am is my life. My hobby is making videos and riding trains.

[S. Lisa Smith]

I am a surfer who crossdresses. I love to crossdress, but if the surf is good...I go surfing.

[Samantha43]

Like Katie said. Samantha is part of me, always has been and always will be, whether I want her to be or not.

I have always been good at balancing my life. I have a wonderful life and she is part of it, but I won't let her dominate it. There are other parts of my life that are much more important.

[CynthiaD]

Hmmm ... Tough question. My hobby is cross stitch embroidery. My life is computers. I don't know where that leaves crossdressing. I guess I would put it in the same category as wearing pants. I'm not sure what category that is.

[Jamie-Lynn]

My life is in computers, hobbies are based around computers. And Crossdressing is just something that I do.

[xcdmargo]

great and interesting answers. Margo will always be part of who I am that's for sure. Our lives just get so busy and I find as I get older (I'm 59) I just don't want to miss anything. And Lisa how about giving some some CD/TG Surf lessons, that would be great.

I do find that when I'm in my pretty mode that I really just do not want it to end.

Hobbies and things I enjoy are traveling, sailing, scuba diving, yoga and I'll be starting zumba lessons soon.

margo

[Tara D. Rose]

All of us on here and the millions of us that are not on here are as diverse of a people as those of us that are not cd, tg, or ts. From what I have learned all of my life as being a crossdresser, that for some, not all, it is a hobby. For some it’s not something that HAS to be done. Regardless of model ship building, or collecting stamps, or paying guitar or painting pictures, etc. For some of us, it’s because there’s nothing left to lose, so some, not all turn to crossdressing by choice, and thus, it is a hobby. By the previous sentence it is a hobby. But for some of us, not all, but it does apply to me, it is not a hobby. It is a must do, it’s a have to do thing. So many are like me, so many are not. I speak only for myself here, it may or may not apply to all members on here, but it does apply to me, that it is not a hobby. It’s is a hobby only to those members on here that can take it or leave it. I for one and as an individual, must do it, I have to do it, I have to become Tara. It’s not by choice, it is a must do thing. I need to become Tara. I yearn to become Tara. Notice all of my words here I never say I need to “dress”, I always say, I “become” Tara. And so with all of this being said, it’s not a hobby to me. I ask, “is sex a hobby?”

I am who I am, I am free. To those on here that put on women’s clothes for reasons other that what have just explained here of who I am, then for those, it may be a hobby. I do find offense to the word “hobby” applied to who I am, but I do understand that it is a hobby to a lot of members on here as well as many I have met where it is “Just a hobby”. But the definition of the word “hobby” does not apply to me, for some it is a hobby, but what I “MUST’ do, it is offensive if those that it is just a hobby to, think I do it as a hobby.

For some members on here it’s something they like to do but can live without it, some crave it, some need to, some have to, I HAVE to.

But I am not offended at the OP here, it is a good legitimate question and I have nothing but respect for the question. For the op and many members on here need and desire to learn as well as myself. It’s just like I think the word “Tranny” is and should be offensive to all of us on here. So many negative stereotypical stigmatisms go along with the word and or label “tranny”. Likewise, personally I find the word “hobby” being and undermine to who and what I am that not only applies to me but to a lot of others on here but may apply to others on here.

So to the op here, when you ask : is it a hobby for all of us here? First, there needs to be the separation of the whole lot of us, and put into categories, those that NEED to dress, those that “need” to “become”, and those that are in certain dimensions of the whole spectrum associated of men wearing women’s clothes. For some it’s a desire, for some it’s a want to, for some it’s a like to, for some it’s a need to, and so for those of us that absolutely positively, necessarily, can’t function without becoming that other side, yearning to become,,etc,,,,,,,,,,then it is NOT a hobby. It is NOT a hobby. What I do and have to do is not a hobby.


BUT, and BUT, and this is a heavy BUT, for so many, that put on women’s clothes , ,,It is a hobby, just not for me. Though I say on here that it is a MUST for me as well as many others, some can take it or leave, so it’s a hobby to them, but to me it’s not a hobby.

My hobbies are playing guitar, singing, oil painting, fishing, etc. These are things that if for some reason were removed from my life I could still go on and function normally, but if my NEED to be unable to Become Tara were removed from me, it would feel like death to me.

So to the op, the bottom line IMHO, for some it is a hobby, and for some, it is not a hobby, but a MUST.For some MUST take it so much farther than me, and some ,not as far as I go. So there comes a point as far as som,e , it is a hobby, and to some,, it is not a hobby. So many of us are so diverse that we cannot all that puts on women's clothes fall into the spectrum of hobby, but for some ,it is, and for others, it is not.

Love & Respect………………Tara

[Robin Lee]

I am a TS so not a hobby for me, just a way of life. I sure am glad for that as my hobbies seem to consume me and my pay check LOL.

Best Wishes
Robin Lee

[cassandra54]

when i was 5 years old, my older sisters used to dress me up just for fun. when i went through puberty i dressed in my stepmothers stockings and garter belt and had my first orgasm. throughout the years i did it mainly for sexual reasons, once for a bf that i had when i was 21. i did it with my ex wife, and started with my SO, because i thought she was dominant. but for almost the last year, it has become more than a hobby. there is no longer and sexual component involved, unless a play partner wants me to dress, (which hasn't happened yet and doesn't really need to for that matter)or my SO initiates something.
i do think it has become part of my life. i don't feel that i am a woman trapped in a man's body or anything like that, but i lead a very masculine life when i am at work and for me it gives me the opportunity to live part-time as a woman. i love women's clothes, shopping for them, wearing bras and panties and putting on a wig and make-up. i am looking to expand my horizons in this area and see what i can do with it.
i don't really feel a compulsion or need anymore, i just feel i am doing it for the purest and simplest of reasons.

[Missy Tanya]

Well I've been know to describe crossdressing as just another of my many hobbies. Mostly to the girls at my TG meetings. Most have had SRS, others part live full time as women. So when they ask me where I'm going with this, I say just another of my hobbies. Does make me feel upset that it's all it most likely will ever be. But I have a good job, wife, home and more bills now that Tanya has her own Credit Card. So till I win the Lotto or find a bucket full of gold under some tree. I still have to work to play. I understand the ones that have feeling of not being born in the right body, but I don't. I'm just a guy with a girly side that need to get out every so often.

Now I have said to my wife, if there is such a thing as reincarnation, I want to come back as a woman. Done the male thingy, ready for the girly thing in my next life.

Tanya

[NathalieX66]

Nathalie is a social side me, my other half.....she ain't going away.
i got a collection of more than half dozen vintage guitars, I just sold a 50 year old antique Ford Fairlane, and now I want a sailboat such as a Catalina 25....those are hobbies.

I go out out en femme, and yet I like guy things.....go figure.

[Cynthia Anne]

Dressing is my life! Breathing is my hobby!:D

[Jane G]

I am a surfer who crossdresses. I love to crossdress, but if the surf is good...I go surfing.

I new it couldn't just be me. I can Cross Dress prety much every evening, but time and tide wait for no one. If the surfs up then I'm off surfing, no question. I guess that puts crossdressing in the something I do routinely catargory, with surfing is in the, will drive 200miles in a day for a fix catagory.

[Kathy4ever]

I guess you could call it a hobby, but I don't feel it is a hobby. I just luv to be dressed. I think like others in that Kathy is who I really am and the masculine part is what I do to make a living. Most times I spend more time at work than free time. It is not what I really want to do but that is what the cards have delt me. I think I was more productive when I did not want to dress as much. Now a days that seems to be all the time. This summer has expanded my time dressing. It is almost everyday. Before this I was lucky to do it once a month.

[Shelly67]

If crossdressing is a hobby then perhaps there are some of us who take it to point of hypocritical obsession .
Is it any wonder there are some proffessionals who view crossdressing as an almost schizophrenia ?
There has to be a point one realises just how far we take our " hobby " just how it's shaping our lives and not to control it .
To remain in touch with ones self , the financial cost and decency surely should remain focussed and controlled . Surely IF our " hobby " or behaviour has become evident we go overboard , way out of our way to indulge then maybe it's only a selfishness ignored. Perhaps then it should be considered to dress EVERYday , even at work ??
In other words , if it were golf that took a part of our life , giving us happiness and fulfillment , it also has to be accepted that its just not possible to play everyday .
Youve gotta get a grip .

Now pass me that 9 iron .....
FOUR !!!

[TGMarla]

Call it a "life hobby", because whereas at one time in my life, it was really really heavy duty encroaching on my life as I considered all the transgender questions, it is now a pleasant diversion. All the questions have been answered for me now, and I won't allow it to dictate how I live any more.

[Tina B.]

I didn't think I had anything to say on this one, unusual for me, but after reading some of the comments here, I have to add my two cents. I started dressing at around 6 years old, and at 67 I have no idea what started me down that road. I've dressed off and on every since. But it's not who I am, I'm a guy, a fairly macho. But every since my teen years, there are times when I don't dress for fun, or amusement, but because of a deep compulsion that wells up from somewhere down in the depths of my soul, and if I don't satisfy that need it gnaws at me, I go sullen, depressed and then angry and bitter, a very ugly person really. But if I feel the need to dress, and give in to it, I feel fulfilled, contented, and happy. I'm easy to get along with, and fun to be around. I've had a lot of hobbies in my life, some of them where really great fun, but never did any of them make me feel the way not dressing makes me feel, and most of them have been long forgot, but the dressing need just keeps getting stronger, and I spend more and more of my time dressed since retiring. I don't what you would call it, but it's not my life, just a part of it, and it sure doesn't feel like a hobby to me, but then I take pills every day to keep me going, and I don't consider that a hobby either, just what you do to keep your life on track.
Tina B.

[Pythos]

I would say a mix of both. But it in no way is a full determiner of who I am though.
Would I hate it if I were made to stop. YES.

[BeckyAnderson]

For me, true crossdressing is not a hobby. It is something that is an integral part of my life and my soul. One can quit a hobby at any time and go on to something else. Ever try quitting crossdressing??? Ain't gonna happen!

[kimmy p]

Male me and Kimmy are mixed. I am who I am and I tend to be very androgynous. I guess it's a combination for me. I am who I am, but sometimes I take the feminine part of my personality further.

[NicoleScott]

Yes, there are aspects of my dressing that has hobby similarities. For example, I like to make lace headbands to wear with my maid's outfit. And sewing skills (and a sewing machine) comes in handy for a crossdresser. I have made chokers and jewelry. These may be separate hobbies, but are closely associated with my compulsion (rather than a hobby) to crossdress.
Golf is a hobby to some, a compulsion to others, and to still others, an addiction!

[Cheryl T]

Stamp collecting is a hobby....this is part of my life and part of what makes me who I am.

[Lori B]

my feelings too Cheryl....although I was considering putting some of my nicest heels in plexiglas display cases....:heehee:
Stamp collecting is a hobby....this is part of my life and part of what makes me who I am.

[katii]

a hobby but if it was my life that would be great :')

[Frédérique]

Hobbies or is dressing our hobby or is it our life? It seems like dressing takes up so much time does it interfere with living a fully rounded life. Do we still have time to enjoy other things in life?

I think my hobby is writing about crossdressing on this site! My crossdressing is more like an elixir I take to feel euphoric, and there’s nothing casual about it – in other words, my CD’ing is not a pastime. Playing spider solitaire or video games is a true pastime, but not a hobby (for me). My profession, namely painting or creating pictures, is seen by some as a hobby, but when you’re doing it seriously it’s anything BUT relaxing. Lately I’ve been gathering interesting images and writing little stories away from this site – those may also qualify as hobbies…
:battingeyelashes: