Decompress

What do you do to decompress from the stresses of daily life and for some trans people at the end of the day they also have to relax.

We Asked People With Gender Dysphoria How They Take Care Of Themselves
Sometimes it’s the simple things that help the most.
By Sarah Karlan BuzzFeed News Reporter
Posted on December 6, 2015

The uncomfortable feelings that come with gender dysphoria can really throw a wrench in your day-to-day life, making even simple tasks seem impossible. This type of dysphoria is often defined as a condition where a person experiences discomfort or distress because the gender to which they were assigned at birth and their gender identity don’t match up. When your body and mind aren’t seeing eye-to-eye, it’s easy to feel pretty low.

We asked people to tell us what they do to make themselves feel good when they’re stuck in some serious dysphoria blues. Here’s what they said:

1. Escape for a bit into your favorite playlist.
“When my dysphoria gets bad, I take out my guitar and play music. Sometimes I like to play my own music, music I wrote. Mostly I just cover songs. When I play, I feel like I’m in my own world, just my mind, my hands and my guitar. I escape into a little space inside my head and fill it with music.”
— Anonymous
Some of the other ideas are:
2. Take a moment to point out a few positive things you love about your body.
3. Cuddle the crap out of a furry friend.
4. Pamper yourself with comfy clothes, your favorite makeup, and lots of chocolate.
5. Find someone you look up to — if not out in the world, then on YouTube!

And the ones that I like are,

6. Take a peek into the past so you can appreciate how far you’ve come.
“As a trans guy at about 8 months on T, it really helps me to look back at older photos from when I wasn’t so far along on my journey and look at how far I’ve come. Old photos are super cringy to look at but they definitely make me feel better about where I’m at now.”
— Jamie
19. Avoid spaces or people that will bring you down.
“If you’ve been feeling really dysphoric for a while, spend a day dressed as your stereotypical biological sex. You’ll feel awful for the day, but the day after when you dress as your actual gender will be awesome. Avoid transphobic places and people as much as possible (certain friends, YouTube comments in general) and go to places that understand and affirm how you feel (Tumblr, safe spaces). If there’s a certain activity that makes you feel less dysphoric (shaving, using hair gel), do it!”
— Anonymous

For me it is photography. I can get lost for hours taking pictures and getting out into nature, and then coming back and editing them on the computers.

What do you do to decompress from a rough day?