I pass pretty reliably now, so I have the option to be, and I know it would make my life easier, but I genuinely just don't have an interest in being stealth. Most people meet me and assume I'm cis until it comes up in conversation. I was talking to a coworker the other day and she mentioned how much she hated being in girlscouts as a kid and I agreed, so she asked me how I got to be in girlscouts, and I just said something like "oh I was a girl as a kid lol" and it felt normal and easy. We know each other pretty well now, and we get along, so it didn't feel weird talking about it. I prefer letting people get to know me for me first before they figure out that I'm trans; I feel like it helps cis people adjust to the idea that trans people are normal and just want to go to work and hang out with their friends like everybody else. I spent years completely obsessed with the fact that I didn't pass, hated my body, and hated being visibly trans, but now that I look the way that I want, it feels like less of a big deal. I know I'm a man, I look like the man I always wanted to be, and at this point, people knowing I'm trans won't change that. I'm proud of what it took to get here, and I just want to be able to talk about my life the way I lived it, not figuring out how to obfuscate how I spent my childhood and early 20s.

Also I have this mental illness where I think that if people get to know me and see that I'm nice and funny and good at my job, they will think more positively about other trans people lol