Sorry for not answering earlier: I'm not quite sure yet. :)
My legal name is Christopher. That makes Chris convenient as a gender-neutral shortening, which is what I've always used anyway. I don't think anyone's called me Christopher since I was a kid and getting in trouble! So for a while I'd thought that I'd just use that and make life simple.
That said, I remember my parents telling me that if I'd been female-identified at birth, they would have called me Meghan. That meant more to me than I realized, knowing that. My 15-year-old fem user icon is titled Meghan, and I've been thinking more lately about whether I'd like to start being Meghan. I think the answer is probably yes, since my internal concept of myself as a young girl who needs me to take care of her (if that makes sense?) is named Meghan. Having this thought of myself as a little girl who needs help and love helps me get past my fears to give that help and love to myself.
My parents are coming to visit in a couple weeks and I'm going to ask them if I remember that name correctly. If so, I think there's a good chance I'll start using it. And if not, I may start using it anyway!
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Date: 2022-06-06 02:21 am (UTC)My legal name is Christopher. That makes Chris convenient as a gender-neutral shortening, which is what I've always used anyway. I don't think anyone's called me Christopher since I was a kid and getting in trouble! So for a while I'd thought that I'd just use that and make life simple.
That said, I remember my parents telling me that if I'd been female-identified at birth, they would have called me Meghan. That meant more to me than I realized, knowing that. My 15-year-old fem user icon is titled Meghan, and I've been thinking more lately about whether I'd like to start being Meghan. I think the answer is probably yes, since my internal concept of myself as a young girl who needs me to take care of her (if that makes sense?) is named Meghan. Having this thought of myself as a little girl who needs help and love helps me get past my fears to give that help and love to myself.
My parents are coming to visit in a couple weeks and I'm going to ask them if I remember that name correctly. If so, I think there's a good chance I'll start using it. And if not, I may start using it anyway!