Update on feeling like a vulnerable liar

I saw my psychologist for our last session the other week, and I realised that I have dealt really well over the last year with the identity issue and feeling like a vulnerable liar. I have recently started a new job, and we all went out for lunch together as a team building exercise as everyone is new at this centre. During the lunch, one of my co-workers asked me if I was engaged or married - I do wear a ring on the fourth finger of my left hand, as we have registered our committed relationship – I answered this question by stating “we are not married, but we did buy a house together 18 months ago”. I was really pleased with myself. I answered the question, giving her enough information without lying or needing to disclose my personal life. Thus feeling like a vulnerable liar solved. I can still be honest and answer a question, while keeping my answers short. Furthermore, I think coming to terms with a new identity has also helped. I truly don’t identify as a lesbian anymore, I tend to just say Femme rather than Femme lesbian. I have also being associating more with people in the Sex and Gender Diverse (SGD) community, than the gay and lesbian community, and as I have reported previously I feel more accepted. I have also recently started POTS (Partners of Trans Society) and still run BFT (ButchFemmeTrans Melbourne). BFT had a special dinner event the other night and we had over 40 people attend. So being more involved in the SDG community, using Femme without the lesbian and running POTS, I have found my identity a queer Femme POT.

Feeling like a vulnerable liar.

Of course having a partner transition from female to male will have its difficult moments, and I am not going to pretend like it is all fine. I am having trouble with my identity, feeling like a liar and being unsure if I can cope with this. I understand that our ‘minds’ allow us to think of all the things that could go wrong and I try not to get caught up in my thoughts too much. However it has been really useful seeing a psychologist, as this gives me room to explore those ‘dark’ thoughts but in a time limited, safe environment way and to acknowledge that they are just thoughts and might not be reality based at all. Additionally, speaking out the thoughts can help me to process them and move on.

So I am going to share some of these thoughts and how I have processed them. I have noticed that from time to time, I would swing wildly from feeling really fine with Max’s transition to not feeling okay about it all. I realised that when I am feeling good about it, I am thinking about how much I love him and that he as a person and what I love about him is not going to change (e.g., his moral values). When I am not feeling okay, I believe it is about being unsure if I will cope and be strong. Additionally I am struggling with the feelings of being vulnerable, which are linked to being able to cope. I have thoughts that include “I am a psychologist I should be okay”, “I am active in the queer/trans community, and therefore I should be able to cope with this”. I understand these are ‘should statements’ and that life is a more complicated than “I should have all the answers” which is really an unrealistic expectation.

Additionally, I have come to realise that I worry about being seen as a liar. I value in myself, about being an honest, open person. However I find myself now in positions where I feel that I am not being. For example, at my new job they believe me to be heterosexual and every time I am casually speaking to a colleague about the weekend or something, I have this sense of being a liar. I do understand that I don’t want to (or need to) share such personal information with work colleagues about my private (sexual) life. But this feeling really does irritate me as I have always in the past come out as a lesbian. I do realise that I have to learn to sit with this discomfort, until it passes, which I feel it will sometime in the future as I get use to people (strangers, work colleagues etc.) seeing me as heterosexual. I also realised during the psychology session that while I struggle with not feeling honest, at the same time enjoying hetero privilege but then feeling guilty about that. Interesting, huh?

I also feel a bit like a liar when my friends ask me how I identify. So when I tell my friends that I am with an FTM/trans-guy, I worry about them thinking that I am not a lesbian or a failed one (use to be made to feel that way for dating Butches) and that I was lying to them, or that I am lying now because I am a lesbian (but with a trans-guy). So I cannot win, however I understand that this is my thoughts in my head and not necessarily fact. My friends have been hugely supportive and understanding. Also talking to my psychologist I realised that I am still able to be honest and say “I don't know how I identify. I am not straight but that I just don't know what I am” and I am being honest.

I do realise though and we have already learnt this lesson that I need to communicate what is happening and what I am thinking. I am doing this.