I first started with people I felt safe enough around, in this case it was actually within my work environment because I wanted to establish a safety network there as I did it.

Find a moment, get the persons attention, “hey can I share something with you?” And you have a chance to take some breaths and stabilize while they change their attention. No sense turning back, but you could, though throwing myself in the deeper end like this has been working. It’s easier to steel one’s resolve when facing it for real versus just living it out in your mind.

“Sooo I’m trans, I go by <pronouns>, I’m kinda new at this. “

For many people I had an added comment of like “I really admire <aspect or quality> in you” etc and it puts this into a share realm for them. I’ve tied them to me with something like that and it kinda opened all the conversations.

It helps that I did this working in an education environment so literally everyone is educated adults. I did select people in small waves and did it bit by bit and it kept getting easier to speak out loud, share, open up and start actually living….

Didn’t take long from there to find and feel support, then take the plunge fully.

Good luck anyone and everyone.