Who is currently trying to quit?

Finally just read everything.... and I have a better answer to why I'm here: For all the many excellent, insightful replies I found in this thread. Thank you all!

I also can appreciate the annoyance that some members might feel when they see people trying to "quit" the "damaging" activity that they've come to love and enjoy. Although, I'm not sure a different web site could be as helpful. Throughout the web, this site seems to get far more traffic than others about this topic. If you put yourself in the shoes of a closeted, highly "guilty" feeling unsure CD... they probably aren't going to get the guts to join a low traffic, low reply web site. I know I wouldn't. I joined here because of the high quality of the community and it appears to have been a very good move in my quest to understand myself better.

That said.... would it make sense to suggest a "quitting" section of the forum to the mods?

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Originally Posted by tosbourne

That said.... would it make sense to suggest a "quitting" section of the forum to the mods?

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No. There are far too many sections already. :)

Besides, I think the ratio of CDs who want to quit is low here.

i tried to quit a few years ago. but after a few month the urge to dress started coming back and i could stop it from starting

Been there, done that! Dont want to do it again. Tabby is a part of who I am and even my wife says that I am a much kinder and gentler person when I let her out.

I'm in a "quit" status right now...kinda. I purged everything earlier this year. Something snapped in my head and I just didn't want to do it anymore. In retrospect, I REALLY wish I kept my wardrobe and just stashed it away for a potentially rainy day. I had a damn good wardrobe built up, too... I don't dress up currently, but I love watching vids I shot of myself while dressed up. For now, that seems to be satisfying me. Though I still fantasize about dressing up once in a while, the compulsion hasn't been strong enough to start it up again.

I've never came close to quitting,even when It would have been prudent to do so,Who knows what circumstances may arise in the future,but I hope I'm dressing for many years to come.
Being a member on this site must help so many come to terms with any Issues they have.Even though I'm personally in a good place I have learned things on here that have helped me

:hugs:Sophie

I have succumb to therapy lately, but for alternate reasons. Rather then quit crossdressing I am growing in embracing who I really am, a woman. However I am fortunate to encounter one of the leading gender therapists who is on the cutting edge of gender research. In her 30 year practice she encountered about 80% of patients never completed transition into womanhood because of peer, societal, work and other pressures and yet not a single one of them was able to relinquish feminine side of self.
I hope this helps in determining the odds of success and even though some of us are super strong and perhaps can withhold from dressing, such energy can devastate our psyche and rain havoc on our lives. I believe that embracing this feminine gift is so much more freeing and healthy despite what society tells us.

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Originally Posted by Elizabeth Ann

...but these blanket pronouncements on this site that it is impossible irritate me no end. It is argument by anecdote.

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Fair enough, but....

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Originally Posted by Elizabeth Ann

More importantly, we no longer have in our sample those who might have successfully quit.

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...If there were anyone who successfully quit crossdressing, we would know about it through other means than this forum. Such a revelation would spread like wildfire here, as there are a considerable portion of us (see OP for example) who actively WANT to quit and have failed, over and over and over again.

The absolute absence of any person announcing their successful quitting journey speaks volumes.

To the OP: Be careful. A number of people on this forum have reported psychological issues in attempting to quit. There may be real world implications for you, quite in the negative, in attempting to quit. I strongly advise you seek professional counseling in your attempt.

I don't think the question is whether or not you can quit. You can, but at what cost to your happiness? Many of us here have quit dressing and purged, but returned weeks, months, years, or decades later.
The question is: will the desire to crossdress stop because you quit the dressing activities? Again, for those of us who quit and started again, the desire never completely went away.
Maybe you can quit, but I'd bet against it.
I agree with those who get peeved when crossdressing is considered a disease that needs treatment (quiting).
If you're a crossdresser, then crossdress.

Not me! Ever! Never! No! Am I being too negative again?

I have tried to quit a couple of times, but always drifted back in to the dress. Purging is expensive so I got a storage unit to keep the clothes away from my non-approving wife and kids. I wish I could dress more, but am able to dress a few times a week.

If I wanted to quit I do not think that I would come to this site since most eople have accepted themselves for the CDer they are and support their peers who find themselves in the same boat.

Good luck with the quitting.

IT COSTS TOO MUCH MONEY TO QUIT!!!! and just is a straight up lie to who you are... but I do see how you could keep it in check or controlled. just seems really unhealthy. ok woops sorry I just seen after I posted that you abouve me just said that! funny #&%! there lol.!

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Originally Posted by NicoleScott

I don't think the question is whether or not you can quit. You can, but at what cost to your happiness? Many of us here have quit dressing and purged, but returned weeks, months, years, or decades later.
The question is: will the desire to crossdress stop because you quit the dressing activities? Again, for those of us who quit and started again, the desire never completely went away.
Maybe you can quit, but I'd bet against it.
I agree with those who get peeved when crossdressing is considered a disease that needs treatment (quiting).
If you're a crossdresser, then crossdress.

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So then the question is
Is dressing the frosting on the cake, and what is the cake? Is dressing just the symbolic part of some other need? If one feels "complete" when dressed, that seems to me to express a different need that is hidden. Is it a way to recognize some feminine quality that can only be expressed by dressing. Is it the "rush"?
It isnt much different say than giving up desert. We are stilll able to eat to sustain ourselves but the desert is what finishes off the meal.
So in fact, what "quitters" want is some way to recognize what drives them to dress, accept that part and incoporate that into their regular lives, and NOT have to dress to show they are "different' in some way, e.g. men with a feminine bent, or with different wiring or ??????
It is possible to recognize something within oneself and not have to act on it.

I am always trying to quit but soon I restart again, so I am starting to think that I just wont be able to quit so I better start to accept who I really are and this will be with me forever.

For me quitting is too expensive; Hard to explain but when I have quit I feel like Im out of balance or have a void.

Too make a long story short I dont like everything Ive done to fill that void.

Ive probably done more self destructive things trying to fill that void than I have filling it.

My goal is to find some balance; I schedule to time to dress and try to stick to a budget.

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Originally Posted by Cari

For me quitting is too expensive; Hard to explain but when I have quit I feel like Im out of balance or have a void.

Too make a long story short I dont like everything Ive done to fill that void.

Ive probably done more self destructive things trying to fill that void than I have filling it.

My goal is to find some balance; I schedule to time to dress and try to stick to a budget.

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I feel the same way with the self destructive behavior filling the VOID... it's really sad and not worth it. funny how I tried to cover up something so harmless with something SO HARMFUL!!!!!!!!!! does not make sense.

i've tried quitting for all the wrong reasons, had EX g/fs ask me to quit.. i've tried because i thought it was normal.. went through a phase where i thought i was a woman in a mans body.. almost killed myself over a 2 year mess..and then one day it just snapped.. i dont give a crap what others think of me.. although going out in public i get noticed right away.. as i do my makeup in a not so subtle way.. but thats they way i like it :) and when it comes to dating.. i'm right up front with who i am, if she couldnt accept it.. i wasnt going to back down.. CYA! now ive found someone who begs me to dress as she wants to see Xandria more often :) her family is very accepting of it.. minus the men of course.. her sister helps me with my wigs :)

if you're going to quit.. make sure its for the right reasons.. what those could be.. is up to you.

I had to leave all my stuff behind once, so it was a forced quit, I suppose. I tried to fight not getting new stuff, but it wasn't long and I was stashing stuff again.

As I have replied previously to others, I think that cross dressing makes me a better person. I have more empathy for others, I literally have walked in the shoes of others (high heels) and I am more open minded than others that I associate with.
Love, Sabrina

Not me!

Not entirely true, a big drawback for me is finances. I spend far too much on femme stuff when I really shouldn't. I'm trying to get out of debt and buying new boots doesn't help. That and the societal thing both frustrate me. Sometimes I wish I could just turn the switch off.