Short-term pleasure is seldom the sign of a right choice.
So, for example, taking hormones, and plunging into a femme lifestyle might seem very attractive. In fact, it is attractive, in the sense that it offers sensual pleasure. But that doesn't not make it the right or smart choice. For one thing, as noted above, part of life is to learn that you don't just exist for your own sake. You're here for a reason, and a big part of that reason is to help other people. So in making decisions, you have to consider not just what makes "me" feel good now, but what will make me feel good in the long term, and what choice will benefit other people.
I don't mean being a martyr or making yourself miserable by helping other people all the time. No, I'm definitely saying being happy yourself. I'm just suggesting that part of true happiness is going to involve helping other people.
However old people are, they feel like they know everything. Everybody is like that.
If you look back to yourself 5 years earlier, it's clear you know more now. The same will be true 5 years from now: you'll know more, and, looking back to now, you might smile to think how confident you were and how much you didn't know.
That is one reason to be cautious about making limiting decisions. A few transsexuals report being *completely* certain they are a girl from early childhood; but more often, transgenders merely have the intense desire to be a girl. Or some look at their female fantasies, and from these they infer "apparently I am a female and not a male."
In the first case--utter certainty--then perhaps it makes sense to pursue Hormone Replacement Therapy and Sexual Reassignment Surgery. But in the other cases that must be strongly questioned.
It used to be that only the first group were considered candidates for a sex change. But gradually the standards have become increasingly lax, thanks mainly to a social climate of laxness. Now some people embark on a change of sex just on a whim.
That just doesn't make sense. Human nature is such that each person has many conflicting desires. One has to balance these desires. When you feel you want to be a girl, that may seem like it's coming from your very core.
However, in a week or two, the wish may be weaker, and other aspects of your personality may be dominating. The fact that a wish might seem very strong does not mean that is who you really are. It's just one wish among many parts of your personality.
Young crossdressers may feel pressured to use feminizing hormones, knowing that the earlier they use them, the more complete the feminization will be.
A big problem is that these hormones can and do cause infertility. You may not have an interest in "fathering" children. But as you get older that feeling might develop.
Further, you might be mainly attracted to girls. If you adopt a female gender, possibly you could find a compatible woman somewhere. But in truth, your odds of finding someone are much better if you have a male gender.
Think of it this way. What attracts you to a girl? Most likely you like a pretty, feminine girl, not an unattractive, very "butch" type. The same works for girls. Most are attracted to male-looking guys, and not attracted to guys who look like and dress like girls.
One of the advantages with being a guy, in fact, is that you can meet this need of girls. You can be her "man", her protector and provider.
Many aspects of the TG and gay scene are plainly self-destructive. Consider clubs, for instance. People to go nightclubs where everybody's smoking and drinking. The drag shows don't even start until midnight, and people don't get home until 3:00 or 4:00 am. It takes days to recover. And some people do this more than once a week!
This kind of stuff is really dumb.