Living almost total Anouk life at last

[anouk]

Until the recent years I’ve been at least a semi closeted crossdresser. Semi closeted means there have been very few people knowing my both sides. I started my breaking my closet first by telling my wife some eight years ago. The result was a better companion and lots of lady life with her. Since then I've been out as Anouk rather freely and specially enjoyed my belly dance hobby with GG:s. The next step was my daughters and sisters – a success again. My granddaughters have met their female grandpa with no problems since they were two years old. Then I got tired of lurking in my neighborhood so I wrote a note where I told I would be openly female and they can say hello to me and chat as they have always done before. The result was they said hello and chatted like they used to do. And what a feeling of relaxation it gave me!

Now I’ve progressed even further and told my boss and my nearest colleagues about Anouk. The result was a positive response with warm hugs. Sometimes I’ve been as Anouk at my work place but haven’t met my students, yet. Some of colleagues I haven’t told about me seemed to look at me confused, maybe not recognizing me at all. Next year I have plans to introduce myself also to my students. The good thing is I teach nurses who should learn to handle the situations concerning the multitude of genders.

It has been a total positive surprise that I've had not a single negative response during the process. Maybe being a crossdresser simply is no big deal in Southern Finland any more - but I'm not disappointed, either

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[Shayla]

Congratulations! If only everywhere were as accepting!

[Tracii G]

Glad to hear things are good where you are.
Here in the USA its pretty much the same if you "come out" to friends they tend to understand and its not a big deal.
I know some on this site make the US sound like its full of people waiting to do harm to anyone different and thats just not the case.
You will get people looking but 99% don't care if you are a CDer.

[Dana44]

I agree with what Tracii said. I have been out a lot and people in Texas don't seem to mind either.

[Rowan Ailbhe]

Awesome!

[Allisa]

I can hear the joy in your writing, if that's even possible,you are truly living a joyous life. I really like the female grandpa description.

[kimdl93]

Outstanding! And it all begins at home! So great that your have your wife, sisters, children and grandchildren supporting you!

[DaisyLawrence]

Thanks for sharing your happy story Anouk. It does not surprise me that you have had no bad experiences in lovely Finland. The whole of northern Europe is the same I think, certainly here in the UK (although I'm not so sure about former eastern block states). I think people like us worry too much about negative reactions that, in reality, we don't get.

[Teresa]

Anouk,
Thanks for sharing your story, so good to hear it all going well. I was interested because I'm heading in the same direction when I move to my new home, I'm getting so much support and hugs from people I never expected them from , no one has questioned why and what I intend to do , I am regretting to some extent why I didn't make it happen sooner .

Please keep us updated .

[sarah_hillcrest]

Awesome I'm super glad for you.

While I think that Tracii G is right and that most people's fears are overblown, I don't think its quite as rosy a picture as she paints in much of the USA. I can't really speak from experience, not actually knowing any CD or trans people in person and being from a small town. It does seem that same sex couples are becoming more accepted even in the bible belt.

[anouk]

Awesome I'm super glad for you.
I don't think its quite as rosy a picture as she paints in much of the USA. I can't really speak from experience, not actually knowing any CD or trans people in person and being from a small town. It does seem that same sex couples are becoming more accepted even in the bible belt.

We do have our own bible belt in North Western Finland where this kind of things are not at all that easy. But in whole Finland there are less than ten crossdressers openly as themselves and the reason for this situation exists mostly between everyone's ears. For me winning my own fears has been the major task.

The life I'm just now living is something I couldn't even dream about ten years ago. And I really mean it, I had much more modest dreams of it. Sometimes I think whether it has been unwise to wait so long. But every time I've come to the conclusion the timing is just perfect: The era twenty years ago definitely were different with lots of trouble I don't face any more. And on the other hand I myself didn't know myself so well and I was not ready to realize the needs and opportunities I might have.