Does reaching pinnacles.......

[CarlaWestin]

...diminish the excitement?

When you feel like you've done it all, is it not that important anymore?

This is in response to what Jennifer At Home recently announced right after her Las Vegas adventure.

Your thoughts?

[Julie MA]

In some ways, yes. But the activity can still be enjoyable. I hike mountains. Once I complete one, that mountain no longer draws me. But even if I climbed all of them, I would still like doing that activity.

[Abbey11]

Hi Carla, possibly but can't say for sure, I'd have had to have done things many times for the possibility that it may diminish my keenness and even then it would be only slightly reduced if at all

[audreyinalbany]

You know, there used to be a local gal here who had a really excellent web site called "Yvonne's Place for Crossdressers." She had great info on local shopping, stories about her experiences out and about and general information on crossdressing. One day, she announced she had done everything she wanted to do in the x-dressing world and she decided to close up shop and quit dressing. She definitely closed the web site; whether or not she actually quit crossdressing I don't know...not sure how many of us every actually do that...but I guess she felt she had 'reached the pinnacle."

[Nikki A.]

I think the excitement dies down the more you do things, but it is replaced with a sense of normalcy. The more I do the more I want to do it.
In my own experience and I can only speak for myself, when I first ventured out as Nikki, I found it very exciting. Now that I attend church as her semi-regularly the excitement isn't the same but I do find it enjoyable preparing, picking out what to wear and interacting with people. It feels normal even though sometimes I still do feel like I'm not so passable. It also is not unusual to go shopping or getting something to eat.

[Tracii G]

I would think that would depend on the person.

[AllieSF]

What Tracii said, plus just because one has reached the peak of their excitement does not mean that it is not still exciting and fun and satisfy some personal need or desire. Reaching peaks of excitement and happiness is just one of the additional benefits in doing something that someone really enjoys doing? Why stop, unless you have lost the base enjoyment or lost the need?

[Lana Mae]

Only if it becomes routine but even that should not stop the enjoyment. There are more pinnacles out there you just have to find them! Hugs Lana Mae

[Kandi Robbins]

The answer to your question would depend on why one does this.

If it's a thrill, a challenge, then certainly "reaching the pinnacle" would be the end game.

But if this is making you feel "yourself" or making you happy (my case), then there is no pinnacle. Then this is a matter of being, whether that means being happy, or being yourself, or being whatever. It's a state of mind.

Jen's announcement had nothing to do with reaching any pinnacle, it had to do with the forum here, at least that's what she lead me to believe.

[Tasha McIntyre]

No, for me it was quite the opposite really.

My first time out, or at least the first few times were so emotionally charged that I couldn't relax and just enjoy the time. I was terrified and full of adrenaline at achieving a lifelong ambition.

After a few times out (successfully, as in no negative reactions or situations) I managed to settle down and take in the background slightly nervous excitement and just enjoy being out and about.

Now, several years later it's still a thrilling and satisfying experience. Not important anymore? No way!.

Cheers

Tash :)

[CynthiaD]

I guess it depends on what's important to you. I dress every day, and I like the feeling of "ordinariness." The idea that getting up and putting on a dress is "just what I do." But honestly, I never dressed for the thrill of it. (Well, maybe when I was a teenager, but not since then.) I just got so sick of wearing those weird (male) clothes all the time. I just wanted to wear something normal for a change.

[Rachael Leigh]

I agree with Kandi I have done things I didn't think I could ever do and for me it's just now a part of me, I now go out and do things like I would do en drab or en fem it's just more enjoyable dressed en fem

[Leslie Mary S]

For a time I was getting a big emotional high when I went to group meetings near by (about 174 miles).
Then I had problems at home. So for now, it is a negative emotion to even think about ANYONE seeing me dressed, but I still do, when alone. But I now worry greatly about unexpected visitors, delivery people, police, and etc.
I live in a small community within a larger community that do not accept anything out of their norm.
So I stay within my room the size of a walk in closet in my now gone home.

[TrishaTX]

Not me , I still love dressing and everything connected with it. I have done most of everything have wanted to do dress...and I would do it again tomorrow. I love dressing and still get great excitement from it.....

[Aunt Kelly]

Interesting question, Carla. I've been pondering it since you posted it, and decided that the answer is yes, and no. The exhilaration of something new and/or daring is almost like a drug, and as a lifelong adrenaline junkie (mostly in non-gender-related pursuits) I'm here to tell you that getting that kind of "fix" is it's own reward. Lots of CDers have just that goal in mind. Nothing wrong with that, in moderation.
On the other hand, the satisfaction that comes from just being femme is where the "juice" is for a lot of members here, as Kandi and Leigh point out. The motivations and rewards are very different in each case, and neither is necessarily superior nor more or less valid. Just different.

[sometimes_miss]

Most activities, once done, become less exciting and more routine the more often you do them. Simple example is getting a new motorcycle. The first day the enjoyment is off the charts. The following week is usually fun as well. But if you use it to commute back and forth to work in rush hour traffic, the fun is quite rare, and it soon becomes 'just transportation' 99% of the time. The same can be said for crossdressing, especially for those of us who are closeted. All dressed up and no place to go.

[Becky Blue]

Back a few years ago i was travelling a stack for work and managed to go out 18 times in San Francisco in the space of 11 months. For me going out is THE pinnacle and each of those 18 outings was fabulous in its own way. I had a great group of friends and had so many amazing adventures, from clubbing to quiet dinners you name it .... when the travel stopped and I knew that getting Becky out was going to be harder and much much rarer, it wasn't that going out was any less important. But I had to accept the new reality and learn to enjoy my Becky time in a different way. Even today going out is still my pinnacle.

[Stephanie Julianna]

Never. Although I have achieved a look that allows me to pass in public and pretty much go anywhere I wish en femme, it never looses importance to me. The more that the general public accepts me as Stephanie the more power and energy my femme self absorbs. It's a struggle at times to contain this strengthening feminine side of me but I could not live without it if I tried. It's a key ingredient in my personality. I guess that will always make it important.

[Jackie7]

Yesterday I had to dress as a gentleman for a family event, it felt so strange, after a solid week en femme all day every day. En femme I feel like myself.

[Beverley Sims]

It can be an anticlimax when you reach a goal after a long period of time...

Breaking up with a stage cast or motion picture after working and fighting with each other for months can leave you rather flat..

Have a few drinks and eats, contemplate your navel and set another goal.

In Jennifer's case, like many others before her, maybe she is just moving on.

[redtea]

yes it diminishes and becomes normal. You could just take a break from CDing to rekindle the desire for it and make it feel new again.

I got no fear right now of wearing some skinny jeans for a walk, It used to be a 8/10 fear but now it's like a 2/10, I care about my choice of jeans about as much as I care about a pimple on my face or my facial hair being messy.

[docrobbysherry]

I think my byline says it all? But, we dress for different reasons don't we?

As I understand it, Trans dress to present as themselves. I guess they WANT dressing to become common place?
While CD's may want to experience what feeling and looking like a woman is like temporarily.

Also, some CD's r satisfied to dress for others, "dress to blend", they call it.:straightface:
But, others of us CD's, dress for ourselves! When that is the case? U keep trying to push the envelope. Keep wanting to top yourself. At least, I do anyway!:D

[Kelly DeWinter]

there is a medical answer to this question as well... and the answer is yes . When a person does something they like, the body produces endorphines from the central nervous system (endogenous opioid neuropeptides).Every time you do that pleasurable event your body produces the endorphines, but as time goes by , the body acclimates to that level of endorphines , and a pinnacle is reached. sports junkies experience this and ironically its similar to sex. People who want that continued high again will usually take greater chances or riskier behavior to get the thrill again.

taking a break for some time can bring back the enjoyment. This happens with careers,relationships , just about anything. I had a friend who learned to ride horses and would ride whenever she could, enjoyed the animals, and described the feeling of horseback as 'being alive", then 10 years later she had peaked in what she could learn and every aspect turned to drudge work for her. So she purged all of her horse equipment ( i can't imagine the $$$ she spent on it) and eventually too up sailing.