It hasn't been 3 years, it's been a long, slow journey of 35 or 40 years for me because I identified as a crossdresser for many of those years. In a way that self-definition prevented me from seeing the scope of my gender identity quandary. I didn't recognize my dysphoria for what it was and found the easiest ways to stop feeling that strange, uncomfortable longing. I picked the low hanging fruit, but as the years went on there was less and less that I could reach. In the beginning it was once every few months in the closet with just a few borrowed clothing items that would do the trick. Then I wanted my own things and looked forward to more frequent and longer sessions. Then I had to get out of the closet, then meet others online, then in person, then tell someone and so on and so on. The dysphoria was being addressed but it was not being resolved.

It wasn't until I was years into hormone therapy, out to the world and following a couple of surgeries that I no longer felt my dysphoria. It was either transition or carry the weight of hiding and feeling the misery of dysphoria with me all my days. Today, I'm finally mostly comfortable with who I am, but I don't plan on stopping my transition journey. The motivation is just different than it was before.