i haven’t heard about the concept of being trans until i was around 16?

up until then i had dysphoria, but had no idea those feelings were dysphoria. i would hate my birth name and try to pick a different one, but i only looked at girl names (because people told me i’m a girl, so i had to) and none of them felt right which bummed me out. and i had that empty feeling in my chest like there was a black hole sucking all the joy out of me. and of course there was this deep and fierce hatred towards my body when i had my period

even after i learnt what being trans was in theory it still didn’t get through to me that it was an option i could take until i met someone whow as trans in real life when i was 17