The holiday season is upon us. This can be a difficult time for many of us in the community. We are all at different points in our transition. Some of us are just at the beginning of our journey. Some of us are deep into it and for some of us it may have been decades. Regardless of where we are at the holidays can be the toughest time of the the year.

Though we all share a common thread in our journey things get complicated when it comes to friends and families. Some of us have nuked our entire lives, no longer able to speak with our parents, children or other relatives. We may have lost people who we thought were friends. We may no longer be welcome where we always spent our holiday traditions. All these personal issues we face because society does not yet understand us. So though I am thankful for the progress we have made I continue to realize or community has so much yet to achieve.

“The hardest thing in life is to be who you truly are. It is something that evaded me for most of mine. Each day I am able to get better at it.” – Mila Madison

I think of my own journey where at times I thought I would never make it or that transitioning was not worth the losses I would experience. I know how that gets magnified over the holidays. These thoughts often trigger dysphoria and then the downward spiral begins. I worry about those of us out there who are struggling and feeling hopeless.

The hardest thing in life is to be who you truly are. It is something that evaded me for most of mine. Each day I am able to get better at it. I learn more and more how to just do what I know is good for me regardless of how scary it may be. I learned that I cannot truly love anyone unless I am able to do this and the relationships that will remain with me now and throughout my journey will only get better because of it. Just know that you owe this to yourself and the universe. Know that ultimately the world will be a better place because of what you suffered through. The world needs you and I need you.

So if you are going through a tough time this holiday season I would like to make you aware of some resources out there that are here to help.

The Transgender Lifeline

The Transgender lifeline is available 24 hours a day. They can be reached at (877)565-8860 in the US and (877)330-6366 in Canada. http://www.translifeline.org/

The Trevor Project

The Trevor Project has phone support 24 hours a day at (866)488-7386. They are also available via text and chat. For out international friends you can reach them here.

TrevorText – Available on Fridays (4:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. ET / 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. PT). Text the word “Trevor” to 1-202-304-1200. Standard text messaging rates apply.

TrevorChat – Available 7 days a week (3:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. ET / 12:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. PT)

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available 24 hours a day at 800-273-TALK (8255).

I also want you to know that I am here for you if you want to email me at milamadison@transgenderuniverse.com. You can also email Transgender Universe at info@transgenderuniverse.com. I will be checking often. Feel free to drop me a note or reach out to me if you ever need anything. I am always here to help. You can also DM us on twitter @TransgenderU

In the short time I have been writing for Transgender Universe I have been overwhelmed by the responses we have received, the people who have reached out to us and the many stories I have heard. I have met so many people who all have amazing things to say about who they are today and how they got there. I have learned so much about our community, celebrated the victories achieved and cried over the hardships some of us face.

keep-calm-and-help-each-other-So as the holiday season approaches I want you all to know you have a friend here. Transgender Universe exists because we wanted a place where people can come together, learn about the world through our community and help each other. I ask everyone to try and help someone this holiday season. Maybe it is as simple as checking in on someone who you know is going through a lot. Maybe someone has nowhere to go and there is something you can do about it.

I promise next week I will get back to ranting about something that will hopefully make us think about where we are going and what we are doing. For now I ask that we all continue to help each other regardless of where we are in our journey. From the bottom of my heart I want to thank you for reading and helping us grow. Getting to know so many of you has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life and I look forward to all the great things we will do together in the future.

Stay safe and keep fighting for all of us!

Love and Peace,

Mila Madison