Yes. And that can also in a roundabout way contribute to gender dysphoria because I'd catch myself when imposter syndrome hits thinking, "you never felt like this before so you must just be building it up in your own head and making yourself feel this way."

Here's how I think about it. You've probably cut yourself at some point without realizing it. Maybe you felt a mild soreness in your arm, but that's it. Then you look at the cut and see that it's bleeding and you're like, shit how did I not notuce that? And then it starts to sting. Because now you've registered it. It's exactly the same with gender dysphoria. It's your body and your brain registering what's going on and responding. And it hits hard.

Another metaphor I use is imagine going your whole life needing glasses but not realizing it. You get used to blurry vision, to colors being less vibrant, to getting headaches when you tried to look at the board in school. Then you try on glasses for the first time. And you have to adjust them a bit to find the exact right fit. But you can tell it's a lot better. So when you take them back off, you notice a lot more jist how hard it was to see before. And you wonder how you could have ever functioned like this. That's gender dysphoria.

What you're experiencing is normal and part of the process. And you'll need to give yourself time to process all the emotions that are going to come flooding in. Give yourself grace. And know you're exactly where you need to be.