Everything about this is enjoyable!

My proclivity to enjoy the feminine experience always has me comparing the activity to the other things that people engage in. I just don't think there are many people that have found anything that is as rewarding and enjoyable as this. I love thinking about it, planning new adventures and personas, getting transformed, going out, video and pictures. It's all good. I feel for some folks as they describe the hassle and financial challenges of there so called hobbies. The collected items now abandoned due to lost interest. I've never lost interest in this. An occasional bout of malaise has to be dealt with but that's usually a side effect of other tenuous life events and eventually passes. And it's always my go to comfort zone.
How do y'all feel about it? Blessing or burden?

Attachment 291690

Love your thread, very positive. I believe it's a bit of both for me, then again sweet is not sweet without sour. I love the way you described it as a hobby we never abandon and always find a new way to make it interesting. I love just dressing and relaxing, go for my drives, even though never being seen (I hope not) and never leave the car except to gas up it just feels so natural and relaxing being out there. I called it a curse most of my life, but my wife calls it a blessing and believes we are married for thirty plus years because of it, it's a bond and something in common. I wouldn't change a thing.

I do enjoy buying and wearing women's clothing. I don't know why I do what I do. I gave up a long time ago trying to figure it all out. I do have some thoughts about the "why," but, there is no cure for something I have no control over. As a kid I loved art. I loved to draw. I love gardening, especially colorful flowers. In nature it is mostly the male animal that has the colorful plumage to attract the females. In humans it seems it is the other way around. Women are adorned with the colorful plumage. I am drawn to colorful patterns, geometrics, floral designs. I am drawn to colorful panties and bras, and, if I can match a slip to the bra and panty that's great. Yes, I am an aging man. However, yesterday after I am stripping down to my male self again I did try on a multitude of colorful dresses before storing things away for another day. I was truly drawn to the image of the colorful plumage reflecting in the full length mirror. I sort of figure the 161 dresses I own are canvases of great art. My eye catches the color and designs of dresses worn by women around me. I see expression of self even in the male clothes I wear. I always wore colored dress shirts and expressive ties to work for over thirty years. How I felt on any given day was expressed in my clothes. Even as a retiree my male attire for the day expresses how I feel.

I still have some hobbies which I agree are inactive. I still dabble in coins, but, you buy something and stick it in a folder and wait for the next coin. You know the coins are coming next year; a penny, nickel, dime, quarter and dollar. I also have a 'stash' of military models which is still growing under the illusion my body will not expired until they are all built. Good luck with that.

Yep, I'll keep up expressing myself with art work I can wear. It's an ever changing canvas of life.

Blessing or burden, need or want....
I just go with the flow.

We all have different "likes". I'm sure others will say their hobbies are just as rewarding and enjoyable as you feel crossdressing is.

Painting is very rewarding to some people, and very economical to boot! I am a fan of gardening as I get to eat the fruits (vegetables) of my labor.

Is this 'hobby' a blessing or burden?
Both.
It is a blessing in the enjoyment it provides to me and what I believe it brings out in my personality.
It is a burden in the unfavorable perception that society has of this 'hobby'.

Its a blessing. I get to do it every day, and it just feels sooo good!

I, too, enjoy everything about presenting as a woman. There were times in the past where not all was happy but that was due to the people around me, not the actual dressing as a woman.

Carla, I see it as a blessing. So fun going out and about.

I also have never lost interest in what I do.

Every day a new adventure, styles are constantly changing and summer brings forth another addition to the wardrobe.

Its most definitely a blessing in the sense that I get to be the woman I want to be! But its also a burden because of how much money I have invested into it, and am probably going to invest a whole lot more.

I enjoy many other hobbies besides crossdressing, so I don't let crossdressing interfere with any of that. But 1 problem I am having.... I love gambling and love going to Vegas to get some R&R. I need to save a certain amount before I can go so I have enough for expenses and gambling. But crossdressing is sucking away some of that cash I have saved for my vacation, because I see something I just gotta have. I guess what it all boils down to is, should I gamble and possibly lose my money? Or should I spend that money on buying more womens' clothes?

a lot of things going on in this thread. I do enjoy dressing more than all most anything else I do. Hence the other hobbies do take a back seat to it. I look at is as a hobby and obsession at the same time, But boy do I love dressing up. Just the preparation and selecting the things to wear, etc. It is the most fun one can with her clothes on. I still do my other hobbies when my SO is home though, in drab clothes. I have even been teaching my self to use the sewing machine, to making my own brests from some of my dozen nude bras. They turned out pretty good and cost nothing,

It has taken some time but I am firmly in the "blessing" camp. I enjoy what I do very much and hope that the need to dress never goes away again.

Definitely a blessing. No doubt about it. I consider myself to be very blessed to have discovered this part of my self. It has continued to be a joyous and fulfilling activity for many years.

Ditto, GraciRose....Blessing and burden

Rayleen

Its not a burden any longer, I let that go a while a go. Blessing.

There are negatives with almost anything I do, they rarely seem to be totally good or totally bad. On the whole, this is majority good and has been getting better. I'm continuing to learn and grow in ways that would never happen if I were into model railroads or golf. Of course if I were into model railroads or golf I probably wouldn't have two facebook accounts. So there is still a bit of the dishonesty I engage in since I'm only partially out to family and not out to the vast majority of my oldest friends. If there is a burden in this it is the duplicity I maintain. However, that is my choice and I have to live by it.

I have never thought of my dressing as a blessing or a burden but I have often used the word "hobby" when asked why I do it.
It has been a part of my life from my earliest memories and I wouldn't have it any other way.
The burden - keeping 2 wardrobes, sometimes I run out of room and things become untidy.

Most of the time I feel it's a blessing as we seem to be a chosen few that can get relief and happiness from just changing our clothes.

Of course there are downsides, hiding it and sometimes guilt and many more things.

But I really don't think any of us would be doing this if we didn't get something out of it.

I seem to lose interest in other things but not this because it just feels so good.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by alwayshave

Its not a burden any longer, I let that go a while a go. Blessing.

---

Ditto on this.

I guess maybe i'm a bit weird about the financial aspect; i've wasted a lot of money going for the pretty undies over the years, only to find them terribly uncomfortable later, but for some reason I always just treated it like water off a ducks back.

Blessing now, and has been for roughly 6 yrs or so when final acceptance occurred.

Cass

Mostly I see it as a blessing certainly in this part of my life.Has been a burden though at times

I absolutely love getting dressed up, the makeup and the heels, my different styled wig and outfits. I guess I find it a blessing as I find comfort in this hobby. I have too many hobbies and wish I could incorporate this one into my others. Fishing, hunting, woodworking, camping and dressing for some reason just won't combine.

Carla,
It's good to say it is enjoyable but I have to careful now that it doesn't totally dominate my life . I'm sure some members would love to find the freedom I now have , OK it has come at a price. I'll skip the hobby angle , it's turned my life and others upside down too much to call it that .

Choosing the outfits and making them work and just being out and about certainly doesn't feel like a burden maybe I'm not sure if I would call it a total blessing as I still don't know where I'm going with it but I'd hate to turn it into dreadful burden as time is running out .

Carla. Blessing, definitely a blessing.
I have been dressing since I was 6 year's old. The Cheryl in me has gotten me through many tough times.
To add to the pleasure of being who I am. I was blessed with breasts at the age of 50. I now have a 48 D bust that I am proud of in male or female outter clothes.

A blessing, without a doubt. When I get all dolled up and see a woman looking back at me from the mirror, I know beyond any shadow of doubt that I'm one of the lucky ones.

I consider it a cross I have to bear and yet I would not want it removed.