Why crossdressing doesn't work...

[ReineD]

I've achieved most of these goals and it always ends the same. What is new and exciting quickly becomes 'normal', so off I go looking for the next step.

I know I should be perfectly happy with what I have... and believe me I DO appreciate the things I have, but I guess after 50 years of always moving toward the 'next thing' I feel like I'm kind of stalled now that there IS no next thing.

And in the end, I am left wondering if I would have been better off having more control, trying to keep myself at a level where even the little things (a pair of panties, or a skirt for a stolen few minutes once a week) would have been better.

So, tell me. What's wrong with "normal"? Why must there be a quest for excitement?

It is an honest question from my standpoint as a supportive GG who, although I think I understand a CDer's desire to express an innate femininity, I don't understand why there has to be (forgive me if I'm using the wrong word), a high, or a thrill, or whatever is the feeling that takes the experience beyond "normal". This is not a criticism, but rather an attempt to help.

The comparison to an addiction in your last post is an interesting one. I don't by any means think that CDing is an addiction, but if seeking excitement is the drive for dressing, then it might very well be a compulsion more than an innate need to be yourself, and it might be worth your while to look into the different ways that people have of dealing with compulsions.

My understanding of an addiction or compulsion is when a person wants a specific brain receptor to be stimulated over and over, in an attempt to seek a state of euphoria, all while developing a tolerance for the drug or activity of choice.

Dopamine is the central neurochemical that activates the reward/pleasure circuitry in the brain, and this is what drives nearly all of our behaviors. Dopamine, the "gimme more" neurotransmitter, creates desire. It is a necessary chemical that helps the brain learn new information, but if it is stimulated to excess it is the one factor that all addictive substances ans behaviors have in common. Overuse of the Dopamine reward system actually causes addictions/compulsions. The brain's ability to produce normal levels of Dopamine is damaged when Dopamine levels are continually raised to extremes, and normal highs no longer feel like anything.

Often with compulsions, there will be cross-compulsive behaviors such as excessive shopping, eating, sex, or alcohol use, and in the opposite direction, even compulsive exercising, or workaholism, or excessive computer use. In other words, if you've noticed that during the times when you could not CD, you engaged in excessive behaviors elsewhere that also increase the dopamine levels in your brain, it is an indication you might want to look seriously about ways to change how you look at the CDing.

I'm not saying you should stop. There are people who are compulsive over-eaters for example who do manage to get it under control, and they cannot obviously stop eating entirely. But, they do need to stop "using" the food a certain way.