Good thing, I suppose, that I am not so delicate and fragile to have run away from this site crying and bawling my ass off, never ever to return ever again, huh? Although I am sure many here have had their doubts about me over the past several years. Which is totally fair.
And in this, folk here have both challenged and attacked me for the things I have written in the past. Over and over again. Even you, Eryn, have attacked and challenged me within posts I have submitted on this forum. You have also belittled me, too, on more than one occasion, so there’s kinda this pot/kettle/black undertone thingy swimming around within the currents of your post, but I digress . . . .
Regardless, although I agree there is no place for belittling members here within the forum, the thing is that I needed members to challenge and attack me and the substance of the posts I had submitted.
I absolutely NEEDED it.
I needed it to get through all of the static, fog, and chaos roiling around inside my head. I needed smacked around and beat up some to wake me from my own self-imposed prison. I needed members here to be brutally honest to me, to even be rough with me, to stir me up, upset me, and make me THINK.
Using kid gloves would have accomplished little to nothing for me here. Using kid gloves would have done me a huge disservice.
I would be dead right now had some of y’all not stepped up to the plate and just challenged the absolute out of me, over and over again.
Anyone that takes transition lightly is in for a world of hurt. Anyone who is not fully prepared for the challenges and hardships of transition (whether such hardships and challenges come to fruition or not) is setting themselves up for failure. Anyone who moves forward down this path unprepared to sacrifice or lose huge parts of the “former” life does so at their own peril.
In a very real way, as I see it and experienced it to be, the TS section is tantamount to internet version of tranny boot camp. You gotta go through a lot of shit, be deconstructed, and broken down before you can move forward and be rebuilt into something stronger, something better, something more knowing, something more aware, into something more real and authentic.
Only a fool would believe that this section is not also inhabited and regularly visited by a fair number of tranny wannabees, folk who attempt to talk the talk but are unwilling to walk the walk, and members who are living just plain outright in fantasy land. To those people, they NEED their bubbles burst. They NEED to be challenged. They NEED to be discredited. Not only for their own good, but for the good of members here who are truly TS, but who are still early on in their transition, or are still trying to figure things out.
Words, ideas, concepts, and stories are powerful. They are not to be used or wielded casually or recklessly. Particularly not here, not in THIS forum. Because these things here truly can be the difference between life and death, between moving forward and committing suicide. This shit is SERIOUS, and it should be treated as such and taken seriously.
To those that repeatedly challenged me, I thank them and all that they did for me. I would not be where I am now without their tough love.
Instead, I would be dead. And lemme tell ya, I very much like where I am at now, and quite grateful for the opportunity to be here ALIVE to experience it all.
As such, although I am against belittling folk, I'm all for attacking and challenging members who choose or need to post here when circumstances warrant.
Just my two cents worth . . . .