Maybe one of the first times I saw CD in media when it wasn't just a slapstick joke was the movie Ed Wood. If I am remembering correctly as Ed's life and career go more and more off the tracks he has a harder time controlling his desire to cross dress. I've also heard of people saying that CD'n helps them settle down and deal with stress. I seem to have the exact opposite response.
The last couple weeks have been stressful, nothing bad has happened, no crisis, just lots of deadlines and things getting piled up on the back burner. A few weeks ago I thought about dressing all week, and was super excited for my Sunday morning alone time. Last Sunday I was pressed for time and while I did get dressed I wasn't really into all that much. Today I was actually dreading it. All week I'd had no real thoughts about it. It seems like my response to stress is to be serious and masculine. This morning I put it off for awhile and considered just not doing it. Then there was this debate in my head. Do I want to or do I not and why. After thinking about it for a bit I decided to just put on a bra and see where it went. 30 minutes later I was doing my makeup.
I felt great afterwards and couldn't figure out why I was resisting. In some ways I think its a good thing, I don't suffer dysphoria really and my need to dress seems to be easily suppressed when more important issues are pressing.
Does anyone experience the opposite, where your response to stress is a stronger need to dress?