WE BEAT THE NEWS MEGA
As a reminder, be sure to properly give content warnings and put sensitive subjects behind proper spoiler tags. It's for the mental health of not just your comrades, but yourself as well.
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theres some downsides to being a community 'elder' and organizer but yeah its generally better. i feel all the compounded knowledge and meeting new people really helped me get out of my shell
big downsides, warning very sad
the big thing with knowing so many trans people and helping so many people is that invariably some do not make it for a variety of reasons, mostly societal. the cabal (a thing i joke about, but a bunch of trans elders that are vaguely all aware of each other and can ask for help through the grapevine for people) tries very very hard to make sure people get what they need if they ask for it
It's a lot of the same ups and downs as being a substance abuse peer. Supporting people and giving useful information feels great, but also it can be hard being around the all the same old challenges and brainworms that you've already worked through years ago. And yeah, sometimes really hard stuff happens. I know I can only "be an elder" in bursts. Every trans community needs at least a few of us to share the load.
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