I've been seriously considering estrogen/anti-T HRT, and reading other people's experiences the mental effects seem the most appealing to me as opposed to the physical side (not that those seem unappealing tho). I'd love to hear people's experiences here of how HRT has affected their emotions/cognition/sensory perception/connection to the cosmos/etc.
Nobody has mentioned the cuddle bug, but its real, especially on progesterone.
In some ways its not fair to ask. Starting HRT usually coincides with a lot more than just the hormones, including social changes. I started hrt over a year ago in secret and did not announce my transgender status to those I lived with for almost 8 months, Some senses do change - smell, touch, sight - mostly getting more vivid or detailed. I felt baseline happy but felt more empathy, but that may just be because more and more people were starting to know me, not just the facade I wore my entire life. I was out to my friends from the start and even went on vacation with them under my real name while leaving and returning as my deadname.
Its also hard to approximate hormonal implications when I never got to cis E levels until 10 months when I switched to injections, and it wasn't until the one year mark that I started progesterone, and both of those had substantial physical and mental effects too.
Its weird. I'm still me, and I see continuity, but if I sample my mental state or perceptual experience in context from years ago at random to what I am now experiencing or feeling it seems totally alien. It probably just relates back to how bodies are built to go through puberty.
I definitely remember, and do not piss, the ambient anger and aggression that came with being on T. If that was the hormone itself or just my frustration of being a closed trans woman for 15+ years I have no idea.