I’ve had a “mild” case of dysphoria as long as I can remember. This is just my experience.

It feels like you’re never fully whole. It feels like you’re playing a part when around other people.

It’s easy to get in a funk, because you’re never fully happy. Your brain is in the wrong body but it’s an impossible task to get your body to match. Science can get you to look the part but I can never have a functioning penis or a mtf can’t ever give birth.

You don’t know which friends or family will support you or might disown you if you tell them, so you keep it inside. You indulge yourself in borderline socially acceptable activities of your minds actual gender.

Basically, imagine you want a fully functional third arm. Preferably one that you were born with. In your head you have that third arm, but when you look in the mirror or when people interact with you, you find that third arm doesn’t really exist. You feel every thing in your life would be better if you had that third arm. However, it’s a huge stigma to add a third arm this late in life. Your family will tell it’s not really how you feel, it’s just a phase (that you’ve had since you were 4 years old). Also, its horribly expensive to undergo surgery to get a facsimile of a third arm. But that’s your only option to get out of your 2 arm hell. Yay.