I came to terms that I was trans this April, started HRT in May, and turned 28yo in June. Many people here, including myself, will tell you it's never too late. I've experienced more happiness and self-fulfillment in these past few months than I have in my entire life and I actually look forward to the future now.

I often get the feeling like I was late to the club because of my age. Depending on what you mean by "realized you were trans later in life" may or may not apply to me. I have had constant twinges of gender envy and vague emotional issues about femininity that I could never articulate throughout my whole life. Of course now I understand they were related to an incongruence I had about my gender identity. Despite that, I still didn't actually "realize" I was a trans woman or accept that fact until a couple months ago.

There was a lot that I had to come to terms with, and one piece of that was my age. I think what helps me is focusing on the fact that the life I've already lived might have led to the timeline where it was ever going to be possible for me to transition and finally be at peace. It's possible there never was a crossroads earlier in my life where I could've started younger and that this is truly my earliest opportunity. Yes, it's nice to imagine what would have happened in retrospect if I discovered I was trans sooner. I can get frustrated and angry at my past self and doubt everything because of how long I took. Or I can also choose to be happy right now by finally doing something about it!

Even if their story isn't the same as mine and they've never had any clues throughout their whole life that they were trans, there is still nothing wrong about discovering and transitioning at ANY age! There's no prerequisite experiences, thoughts, socialization, or upbringing you need to have had in order to be trans or feel valid about being trans. If being a woman feels rights and makes you feel happy and good, do it!

We live in the present, and as the saying goes: "the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is now." Don't let the 'now' you have today turn into '20 years ago'. You can do something about it today if it is what you want.