The thing I have been wondering about is how to reply to people when they question my gender or if they misgender me? I was thinking of saying something along the lines of “Sorry, I’m working on finding myself and who I used to be is not who I am now. Gender isn’t a binary thing, it’s a spectrum.” and possibly going from there. Also wearing a chest binder helps with the dysphoria, but putting it on sometimes makes me feel dysphoric because I feel like I’m just hiding my chest and the insecurity of possibly having the chest binder not making my chest flat enough sometimes contributes to dysphoria. I dislike the summer months the most because I feel more exposed without the layers covering my body. I have started to wear looser clothes in case my chest binder doesn’t hide the “bumps” of my chest. My chest causes me the most anxiety. Also I always feel tense when I feel like someone might misgender me, like an old acquaintance that doesn’t know my gender identity and it’s always weird when they try to engage me in a conversation and things have changed so much. I don’t want to be rude to them, but there are some old acquaintances and former friends who I ignore because I have explained my gender identity to them and they don’t acknowledge it. It makes me irritated when they try to engage me in a conversation thinking I’m the person I used to be. I mostly ignore them because I don’t want to drain my energy explaining to them my gender identity when they won’t understand it. I’m wondering if that is a good idea. Lately I’ve been looking up shielding and grounding techniques to try out so I can release negative energy and also protect myself from others who try to place negative energy on me. I am sympathetic towards people for their sorrows, but I’m not an emotional dumpster. I want to help people, but not feel like I’m a crutch for them to lean on and I think that some people like my parents won’t change so I’ll change myself for the better and stop trying to waste energy on them. Thank you Anita for helping me feel more valued. I admire your knowledge and compassionate spirit. You are a beautiful soul and I believe you make a great difference in the world with your advice helping others.