Latest / Kaleidoscope - Perspectives Beyond The Surface / Kaleidoscope PBTS: E2b | Blood, Bonds, and Breakthrough (The Quiet Little Doll)
Transcript
- 0:02Hi, welcome to Kaleidoscope, episode 2, part
- 0:05B. Part A was already pretty deep, and it ended
- 0:11on the words, I ran out of candles. These words
- 0:15hint at the deeper struggles of identity and
- 0:19the fear of facing something unknown. In part
- 0:22B, we hear Roldia's prompt, and we place our
- 0:28hearts on the table. Join us to see what happens.
- 0:34Welcome to Kaleidoscope. That's my answer. I'm
- 0:46not going to elaborate. I'm joking. I mentioned
- 0:53the cave earlier and the cave -in. I'm not sure
- 0:58when... when the cave -in happened or happened
- 1:04over which cave -in it was, there were multiple
- 1:07over time. But the thing is, you don't know that
- 1:12you're in a cave. Or you know that you're in
- 1:15a cave, but you don't know that there's an outside.
- 1:17And you have unlimited candles. And as... When
- 1:26the first cave -in happened... I was so scared
- 1:31of the shaft of sunlight that I just lit more
- 1:36candles, enough candles to, just like what Raldia
- 1:41is kind of doing, to blind out the light. So
- 1:47many candles because I had unlimited. The thing,
- 1:51like in my little room where I had this shaft
- 1:55of light and all my candles. What you don't know
- 1:59is that the rest of your people around you, they
- 2:05all have doors in their rooms and they can go
- 2:08out. So anyway, for me, eventually I ran out
- 2:15of candles. Those candles were a myriad of things.
- 2:22Most of them linked to a masculine gender identity.
- 2:28Like going to an all -boys school, trying to
- 2:32marry early, thinking or insisting that I want
- 2:38kids and that I would be a good father, which
- 2:43I would have been, but I would have been an even
- 2:49better mother. And thinking that... All of these
- 2:56things I had to do in order to maintain that.
- 3:00And eventually, I just ran out of steam. When
- 3:05you have no candles, you must go into the light.
- 3:09And that's what happened. That's such a beautiful
- 3:13metaphor, Obie. It is. It is. I actually thought
- 3:18when you said, I ran out of candles, it was kind
- 3:22of like you ran out of patience for people, too.
- 3:25Nah. It's all internal. I was sexually deviant.
- 3:37If people talk about body counts, mine is horrendous.
- 3:43And I lived through Every experience that I had,
- 3:53my life was vicarious at best. Even with my wife
- 4:01now. She knows about this. I won't be with her.
- 4:09I don't like saying this because it sounds like
- 4:14a cliche. But it's also... It's a true cliche.
- 4:19It just shouldn't be misconstrued as being in
- 4:25the wrong body. But I fantasized as myself being
- 4:30a woman, like changing places. I thought that
- 4:39was normal for most of my life. That's why it
- 4:41was a candle. It's just normal. It's normal for
- 4:45you to... go out and think, oh, what a beautiful
- 4:49dress. I wish I could wear that. It sounds completely
- 4:54stupid now, saying that, but that's how I felt.
- 4:58I would go on a date with someone with a beautiful
- 5:02dress and I wanted to wear that dress for 35
- 5:08years of my life. And now finally I'm wearing
- 5:11a dress. Yeah. But that makes so much sense now.
- 5:17I think when we are just within ourselves, because
- 5:21the only experience we know is our experience,
- 5:24then it's like, oh, you know, this is normal.
- 5:28Probably everybody thinks this. Yeah, exactly.
- 5:30Right? Like, nobody thinks anything else. Yeah.
- 5:33Like, oh my gosh, look at that outfit. It's the
- 5:35same. Like, journey of people is the same. Yeah.
- 5:41Yeah, there's this one movie that my friend,
- 5:45shared with us in this other group chat right
- 5:47it's called uh but i'm a cheerleader i think
- 5:50it's called something like that and it's about
- 5:52this girl who is in a very religious family you
- 5:57know all american type of girl cheerleader has
- 6:00a boyfriend has been had that boyfriend he's
- 6:02a quarterback the most cliche american things
- 6:07that you can think of that's what she was um
- 6:11and then but i guess she is discovering that
- 6:16she likes girls right so her family being a very
- 6:21you know christian family send her to a camp
- 6:23um and she's having her first little group therapy
- 6:27and she's like but everybody thinks that everybody
- 6:29looks at girls and thinks oh look at her butt
- 6:32it's so nice but everybody you know everybody
- 6:34thinks this is as if and that's what that reminded
- 6:38me it's like because we are all in our own brains
- 6:41and our own thoughts we all think This is normal.
- 6:44This is how everybody is. Everybody has these
- 6:48thoughts. Like, there's nothing wrong with it.
- 6:51And I think it comes because we want to hide
- 6:56ourselves so much and fit into those boxes, I
- 7:00guess, that we do that to ourselves versus trying
- 7:07to understand what, rather than what I said earlier,
- 7:09the root of a cause, right? What is the root?
- 7:12Where is the stomach from? Where is this coming
- 7:15from? Knowing that it's coming from somewhere.
- 7:19That's the first step. Like understanding that
- 7:22there is a root. Thank you. Whatever, however
- 7:35dark it is. One of my favorite quotes right now
- 7:39is by Alexander Dumas from The Count of Monte
- 7:43Cristo. There is no such thing as happiness in
- 7:46the world, only the comparison of one state with
- 7:49another. You must have felt what it is to die
- 7:56to be able to experience supreme happiness. So...
- 8:03Yeah. We must know the lowest to be able to appreciate
- 8:09anything. Yeah, the joy that I feel now when
- 8:11I wake up in the morning and I'm like, oh, it's
- 8:14another day. I go, whoa, I'm a girl. It's worth
- 8:18it. Oh, I love that. I love that. I love that.
- 8:26Yeah, exactly. It just showcases That nothing
- 8:36should really be taken for granted too, though.
- 8:38Like, you have worked so hard for this that every
- 8:43day you should feel that level of appreciation.
- 8:46Every little barrier, like you were talking about
- 8:49the doctor, right? Every little thing like that
- 8:51should be celebrated because it's amazing. All
- 8:54of it is. And I know I sound very uppity and
- 8:58positive and all this, but trust me, I have been
- 9:02in the darkest. darkest points of where anybody
- 9:06can be. And because I've been there is why I
- 9:11can appreciate the sunlight on my face. Yeah.
- 9:16And you just have to keep doing that. Every day.
- 9:20It's a reminder. Every day. You have to remind
- 9:22yourself every day. I think it's a choice, you
- 9:26know. And some people are sad. It's just like
- 9:29a state. I don't think, it's not a state, it's
- 9:33a choice. It is. You know, if you acknowledge
- 9:38that there is, like, there are low points and
- 9:42high points in your life, right? But they're
- 9:45not states. They're constantly transforming.
- 9:50They're going up and down, up and down, up and
- 9:53down. And it is a choice whether you want to
- 9:57go through the down, right? Very smoothly. And
- 10:02it applies as well for the up. Because. Even
- 10:07for the ups. Too much of a good thing. Can be
- 10:12a bad thing. You know. That's true. But I want
- 10:15to say. When I was talking earlier. It sounded
- 10:22like. Maybe I regret my past. I don't. I don't
- 10:27think that. That anything that I did was done
- 10:32in a negative light or caused harm. Yeah. Like,
- 10:39overtly and anything other than incidental hurt
- 10:46to anyone, including myself. Right. Everything
- 10:51was benign and joyful. Like, I did not have a
- 10:57bad life. I was... I know now that I was depressed,
- 11:00but it manifested in ways that were mostly positive.
- 11:08Yeah. You know, I would love to live in a world
- 11:11where people get to do whatever the hell they
- 11:14want. If men wake up one day and they want to
- 11:20go buy that pretty dress and wear it, go for
- 11:27it. Go ahead. Do whatever. Express yourself.
- 11:32Express yourself. Know yourself. Like in every
- 11:37stage of your life. It's literally a background.
- 11:47It's how we express ourselves. Exactly. Exactly.
- 11:52If women one day want to dress Like a man, I
- 11:58don't know, want to do whatever they thought
- 12:00they could not do because they're just women,
- 12:03right? Do that. Do that. And I would love for
- 12:08it to be normal, right? Because it's not affecting
- 12:11anybody. Like, whatever it takes to affect that,
- 12:14it's just like, they just want to say something.
- 12:16They just want to put their opinion on it. And
- 12:21this definitely needs their opinion, you know?
- 12:26No, it does not. Of course. Yeah. Oh, go ahead.
- 12:34No, you wanted to say something, because I'm
- 12:36about to move on to the next two worlds. Yeah,
- 12:40I was just going to agree. I was going to say,
- 12:41wouldn't that be a lovely world? Yeah. Yeah.
- 12:48Down with the matriarchy, up with the matriarchy,
- 12:51because that's the world we want to know. Yep.
- 12:57Yes, yes, yes, 100%. I would not go the other,
- 13:00like, the other extreme, to be honest. I just
- 13:05like, you know, maybe in the middle, you know,
- 13:08it's just like everybody in the middle is happy.
- 13:10I think there are also a lot of issues, you know,
- 13:16with how women think and how women present themselves
- 13:21and stuff like that. I don't feel. On the other
- 13:25side, is that good? I think there's a lot of
- 13:29work that needs to be done. That's true. Fanaticism,
- 13:32I've said it a few times in our chat, purists
- 13:37are the downfall of. Exactly. You need to accept
- 13:44the mix. Otherwise, life is doomed. Raldia, prompt
- 13:53us. Yeah, I'm going to read this because I wrote
- 13:59it down and I had like... So, I'm sorry, I'm
- 14:05going to... I'm down half a bottle as well. It's
- 14:12a good conversation. I'm loving it so far. Yes.
- 14:15Okay, so my prompt is, my text is, growing up...
- 14:22My environment lacked consistency emotionally,
- 14:25in daily activities, and in routines. The few
- 14:29things I tried to be consistent in were either
- 14:32dismissed as pointless or met with criticism,
- 14:36which created a deep anxiety around consistency
- 14:39itself. As an adult, this anxiety has made me
- 14:44adaptable and open to new experiences, but it
- 14:48has also made commitment and routine feel suffocating
- 14:51like a chore yet i've come to realize that consistency
- 14:56and structure can provide peace of mind now i
- 15:00want to explore how i can reshape my emotional
- 15:04response to consistency so it feels like a source
- 15:07of stability rather than restriction yeah That
- 15:15is what I wanted to express today in this podcast
- 15:18because I think that is the biggest thing that
- 15:20I'm dealing with right now. I'm at a point in
- 15:26my life where I would love to be able to have
- 15:30consistency in my practices, in my hobbies, in
- 15:35my whatever it is. So this spreads. It's like
- 15:40a web that is just like everywhere in my life.
- 15:43this issue with consistency. So, out of consistency,
- 15:48besides the fact that you feel suffocated by
- 15:52it, right? What other emotions does it bring
- 15:56it up? Besides that, have you dived deeper into
- 16:00it? Yeah, I was expecting that whole question.
- 16:06So, as you know, as I've shared here, in my childhood,
- 16:13I did not feel safe to express my emotions. So
- 16:17there's a lot of frustration that I might not
- 16:23be good enough. You know, just like I've said,
- 16:27like it was whatever I was taking interest in
- 16:30as a child, most likely like children's stuff,
- 16:34like play or whatever, right? But as I was showing,
- 16:40As I was paying more attention to it, right,
- 16:43and not to whatever my parents were saying or
- 16:47forcing me to do, it was just like, why are you
- 16:50doing this? This is so stupid. Like, you're wasting
- 16:52your time. You should be studying this or doing
- 16:55that or whatever, right? So whatever I was trying
- 16:57to do, it was not good enough. And even the things
- 17:01that I was like, okay, it's not my interest,
- 17:03but I still want to be good at this, whatever
- 17:08it is that you want me to do. No, it's not good
- 17:11enough. You're never going to achieve anything
- 17:15in this life. So a lot of it has also to do with
- 17:19that frustration and that fear that even if I
- 17:22start something, I won't be able to finish it.
- 17:26I won't be good enough compared to other people.
- 17:31So it will have no value. So yeah, it's frustration,
- 17:39it's fear, it's shame. Even though nothing exactly
- 17:46happens, like I can just like quit, right? If
- 17:49I want to start running, I start running. I discover
- 17:52I'm bad at it, obviously I'm bad at it. Never
- 17:54been a runner, right? But it will bring up so
- 17:58many emotions that are obviously not necessary
- 18:00for that situation, you know? But it's linked
- 18:04to that. It's linked to whatever new I'm trying
- 18:06to do, right? I can do it for some time. It's
- 18:11interesting for me, right? So that lack of consistency
- 18:14helped me start new things. But it is an obstacle
- 18:20when I try to maintain it. Okay. So it's not
- 18:28necessarily, I think, just consistently. Have
- 18:33you ever experienced issues with like commitment
- 18:37or committing to something? I think that's kind
- 18:40of where it goes into it too. It's like, yeah,
- 18:44you can start the practice. Like you mentioned,
- 18:47you could start running, right? You could like
- 18:48it and you could go through it. That is consistency
- 18:50in itself, but it's the long term, the distance
- 18:55that I think that really brings that fear. And
- 19:01it's probably going back to what you mentioned.
- 19:03You didn't have that safe space to let your emotions
- 19:07come out and to really express or try new things.
- 19:13And I can relate to that 100 % because I was
- 19:16told to be quiet. I wasn't told to be a little
- 19:18muñeca, a little doll. Yeah. I wonder, though,
- 19:24do you think that maybe because... Okay. So,
- 19:31my question was, and it's related to this, how
- 19:40were you mocked for trying to create consistency
- 19:44when you were a girl? It was the lack of patience
- 19:50and understanding to whatever I took interest
- 19:54in, and it usually came from my parents. Because
- 20:00whatever I took interest in, they were not interested.
- 20:05I get that. You don't have to be interested in
- 20:07it. But at least support me if you feel like
- 20:10I have an interest in something. And there was
- 20:15a lot of like, no matter how hard you're going
- 20:18to try, you're just not trying hard enough. It's
- 20:23not enough. It's not enough. You're never going
- 20:25to achieve this. Like not believing I can do
- 20:29this, not believing this is something for me.
- 20:32Like, why would you take interest in this? It's
- 20:35too good. Right. So whatever I was doing, it
- 20:39was attaching to my excitement. It was attaching
- 20:43this like label of, of it's stupid. It's not
- 20:48worth it. So in the end, what I was understanding
- 20:51is that I'm not worthy to feel. Oh. to feel excited,
- 20:58to feel like creative, maybe. So yeah, this is
- 21:04how it happened, I think. My question was like,
- 21:17do you think that, but you've already answered
- 21:22it, maybe the, this idea that you're trying to
- 21:30create consistency and then somebody goes, oh,
- 21:36you're not good at it because you want to do,
- 21:38you should be doing this, like another activity
- 21:42or something that I told you to do. And they
- 21:46kind of label that. So you never make it through
- 21:51the honeymoon phase of something that you want
- 21:54to do. So you don't become, good at anything
- 21:57and now you're stuck you're stuck at the end
- 22:01of the honeymoon phase when that fades you want
- 22:05to change again yeah that's so sad yeah it has
- 22:12affected my entire life it has helped me it has
- 22:16helped me and I do benefits from it because I've
- 22:18seen that compared to other people I'm way more
- 22:21flexible I'm way more easy to take on new tasks
- 22:28new experiences you know and just like have the
- 22:31courage to you know what let's try this when
- 22:34it comes to just like for the long run i'm i'm
- 22:39getting anxiety because i don't think i don't
- 22:42think i have what it takes to sustain it you
- 22:45know yeah it's exactly what you described it
- 22:50it's just like it's like a continuous honey moon
- 22:53phase and I know that it's so delusional that
- 22:57I need to do something about it. You know, because
- 23:02it's only like that high interest, right? Dopamine,
- 23:06right? Raising that dopamine, like baseline,
- 23:11right? So when it passes the honeymoon phase,
- 23:15it's just another thing I'm not good at. Is it
- 23:27linked to competitiveness? Oh, sorry. It was
- 23:31linked to competitiveness by my parents because
- 23:37it was like, that girl can do it. Why can't you?
- 23:44And it's just like in Romanian culture, it's
- 23:47just like we are not taught to work together.
- 23:51In school, we don't make like seeds for projects
- 23:55and stuff like that. It's always get the first
- 23:57one, be better than the first one. It's a continuous
- 24:00race. I was never, never interested in that race.
- 24:05I was never interested why that colleague was
- 24:09better or a subject, you know? I felt like it
- 24:12was inspiring, right? But I never felt like competitive
- 24:18or anything. I was just like, that's interesting.
- 24:25But every day when I came home, it was like drilling
- 24:28and drilling and drilling and comparing and comparing.
- 24:31And that certainly did something to me because
- 24:35when I had that, we were talking about that identity
- 24:39crisis when I turned 30, it all came back. Because
- 24:44when you lose everything and it's just like from
- 24:46scratch, you feel like you're rebuilding yourself
- 24:48from scratch. Like if you know, like Tara, there's
- 24:51just like that tower movement, right? when everything
- 24:54comes crashing down and you need to rebuild that
- 24:56is when I realized okay now I can choose who
- 25:00I want to be so when I looked around I was like
- 25:05okay who am I what do I enjoy doing what am I
- 25:08and they all came back because I somehow I retreated
- 25:13into my like inner child trying to discover it
- 25:18and figure out what emotions I had and it all
- 25:23came all came together from the subconscious
- 25:26everything because i didn't pay attention to
- 25:30it for for the longest time or at least i thought
- 25:33it's not there i was ignoring my parents i did
- 25:36not speak a lot to my parents i was doing the
- 25:39contrary of whatever they were saying right but
- 25:42now apparently yeah it was a programming there
- 25:49was like Very silent in the subconscious. And
- 25:52it came forward and like, remember this? Remember
- 25:58this girl from school? Like, she was better than
- 26:01you? Yeah. And one thing I want to share, one
- 26:07experience about this. So, I was one day in the
- 26:15supermarket trying to buy bread. I was in the
- 26:19line. trying to pay suddenly out of nowhere i
- 26:23guess i get this panic attack and i hear my father's
- 26:28voice something that he told me when i when i
- 26:30was little um you will never amount to anything
- 26:35in this life there will never be a place for
- 26:39you even in the market to sell vegetables or
- 26:42whatever and i heard it very clearly and i started
- 26:48shivering like And I realized, some part of me
- 26:51realized that this is so stupid. I'm folding
- 26:53like a bread. I'm not in trouble. I'm not in
- 26:56any danger, right? Like, why am I like panicking?
- 27:01And I've learned from therapy how to calm down
- 27:05and really listen. So when I was able to calm
- 27:11down and listen, I realized that the words were
- 27:15actually spoken in my boobs. not my dad's and
- 27:22I think that I held him in my mind I held that
- 27:28those words with his voice in my mind for so
- 27:30long I had to call him when I when I got home
- 27:33and I said I am sorry that probably I was so
- 27:37resentful and I just remembered like your voice
- 27:39maybe you were tired from work maybe you didn't
- 27:42have like I was obviously not an easy child to
- 27:44deal with right You just said something when
- 27:48you were angry, but my mind thought, oh, this
- 27:51sounds cool. Maybe we can use this every time
- 27:54we want to keep her safe. This is like the perfect
- 27:58line we can tell her to prevent her to do anything
- 28:01that is dangerous. Or we perceive as dangerous.
- 28:06Yeah. I feel like you should apologize to yourself,
- 28:11not your dad. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I got to apologize
- 28:14also to myself for all the... self -development
- 28:17work that i did but that was like that moment
- 28:20when i i first heard that my dad's voice and
- 28:24then when i calmed down it was actually my voice
- 28:26that was shocking that was actually shocking
- 28:30like it is true what they say like you tell you're
- 28:35your worst enemy it's crazy it is it is we We
- 28:44put ourselves down more than any other person
- 28:46could ever. And we don't even realize because
- 28:49until we do that self work, right? We think it's
- 28:53external. We think it's other people. Yeah. Like
- 28:57you were mentioning, because I actually did hear
- 29:00a line like that from my mom when I was young.
- 29:04But instead of taking it as my brain didn't take
- 29:08it as a, this is how we're going to keep her
- 29:10safe from dangerous things. It was, this is how
- 29:13I'm going to make her push forward. So my brain
- 29:20did the opposite. So every time that I need a
- 29:24little push, a little fire under me to advance
- 29:27in some way or other, that line replays. That
- 29:32moment replays in my head. And it's like, nope,
- 29:36you gotta show her. You see, that's what I'm
- 29:39lacking. I'm not competitive. Ruby's question
- 29:41was so good. I'm not competitive. If you say
- 29:46something like that, it's just like, whoa. It
- 29:50does not put that fire under my ass and just
- 29:54make me, oh, I need to show them. For me, it
- 29:59does that because are you the oldest? I'm the
- 30:05only child. I got the whole material. There you
- 30:09go. There you go. That may be it. I'm the second
- 30:12daughter. The youngest daughter, the second daughter.
- 30:15I have an older sister. And my sister is six
- 30:20years older, right? Or five years older. So anything
- 30:24she did wrong, I got blamed. I was punished.
- 30:29Not her, me. Because somehow the younger sister
- 30:33was supposed to keep the older sister in mind.
- 30:36don't know don't know um but it was a a situation
- 30:42where it was always being compared to my sister
- 30:46yeah so in my brain since i was little was you
- 30:51have to do things different than her you have
- 30:53to be different you have to do more you cannot
- 30:56do what she does you cannot live life like she
- 31:00does so I was ingrained with such a competitive
- 31:05little gene or a little thing there that you
- 31:09saw me yesterday. Yeah. You saw it yesterday.
- 31:13A little bit of it. I was like, no, I'm going
- 31:16to be number one on Eileen's thing today because
- 31:19I could afford it yesterday. I won't do that
- 31:21again. Don't worry. It's not a, I'm not. I was
- 31:24impressed. I was like. Nah. She's rich. No. It
- 31:31was payday. It was payday. I could afford it.
- 31:34I wanted to ask you if it's payday or... Alright,
- 31:38next second of the month. Second Friday of the
- 31:41month. Yeah. It's like, for now, Ailee's going
- 31:47to be thrilled. Let's just do that. But he was
- 31:51doing it on purpose, too. So I was like, okay.
- 31:56Let me show you real quick how fast I can...
- 32:01And I had just recharged, by the way. So she
- 32:06just got all my money in like one day. What?
- 32:11She didn't say anything. No. I was expecting
- 32:13her to write in the chat, but she didn't say
- 32:15anything. I don't think she's checked. Yeah,
- 32:18I don't think either. Are the coins more expensive?
- 32:21How much do you pay? I used to think they were
- 32:24way cheaper because I had somehow earned a whole
- 32:28bunch of coins from someone. And I'm sorry, this
- 32:31is way off topic. I don't know how this happened.
- 32:34We're fine. Are we having a little break? I guess,
- 32:39kind of. It's the hormones, I'm telling you.
- 32:44Is that what it is? You're over here. I guess
- 32:51we're rolling. What are the hormones? driving
- 32:55them wild you know going through puberty okay
- 32:58yeah now i and just like they they feel like
- 33:02attacking as a person who is currently going
- 33:05through second puberty i can tell you that this
- 33:08is a thing yeah yeah but but you see that you're
- 33:13not like pouncing We're talking about these little
- 33:16baby cubs. That's the only reason. It's different.
- 33:23If you rolled me back 20 years, I would be unstoppable.
- 33:30Yeah, I would be unstoppable. Because, you know,
- 33:33Dahlia now is like, I flirt. I flirt. I flirt.
- 33:39I do that. And we share with each other different
- 33:43types of stuff. But these kids put me to shame.
- 33:50And I was like, and I've lived life. I know how
- 33:54to do things that you could never dream about
- 33:56doing. Yes, right? Yes. But it's like, how are
- 34:03you publicly in a public forum? The internet
- 34:05is forever. And you are seeing these things.
- 34:10Yeah, I think live chat rooms are not as forever
- 34:14as other parts of the internet. They are forever
- 34:17because people are recording them. Oh yeah, that's
- 34:20true. I've seen it. Some of my buddies were recorded
- 34:28in a chat room and posted by another user. There's
- 34:34people out there that are taking, they just lurk.
- 34:38Taking recordings and posting it. Look, Ruby.
- 34:45I don't even know how I got on there. I have
- 34:51Maya's secret ASMR snoring video. I never fell
- 34:57asleep except for Ruby, you talking to Josh.
- 35:06Oh, my God. That does suck. I am sorry. That
- 35:08does suck to my brain. I'm sorry that I have
- 35:10a silly voice. No, you shouldn't be sorry. I
- 35:14was on mute. I was, like, ready for it. Yeah.
- 35:16Keep going. Keep going. You were talking. And
- 35:20I was, like... Shasha's voice is nice, too, though.
- 35:24So, yeah. I can see that. I feel bad because
- 35:28when I start speaking for any length of time,
- 35:31people just drop off the room. I don't. I stay.
- 35:35I'm just there. But you're special. But I love
- 35:40strangers. And the first time I heard you speak,
- 35:45I don't think it was in Aileen's. I think it
- 35:46was in another chat. And I'm like, really? Oh,
- 35:50my God. And then I heard you in Aileen's. And
- 35:52I got to exchange some. Yes. We spoke a bit.
- 35:56And I was like, oh, my God. I want to listen
- 35:59to this forever. it was just like so calming
- 36:04you know and even because you don't evil like
- 36:08uh you don't speed it up it's just like it's
- 36:13very consistent consistent it's a very nice caden
- 36:21ah it has been very nice it's very melodic for
- 36:26sure yes I think it's that. Yeah, well, it took
- 36:30me a long time to practice this voice, actually.
- 36:35I've spoken once or twice in my unpracticed voice.
- 36:41Yeah, you did it once. I was there, but I wasn't
- 36:43paying attention. I was doing something else.
- 36:44I wasn't paying attention. Do you want to hear
- 36:46it? I'm curious. I've never heard one. I'm curious.
- 36:52Okay, I will drop it down for you into my normal.
- 36:56teacher's voice because i have to be a teacher
- 36:58at school and i'm not allowed to be feminine
- 37:02so this is my voice this is the voice that i
- 37:06originally spoke with but i much prefer this
- 37:09voice i know for me it's just not that different
- 37:15yeah it's not that different so a lot of people
- 37:18think that you it's done with your like uh vocal
- 37:22cords but it's done by raising the larynx over
- 37:27time yeah yeah so i can go much deeper like this
- 37:32yeah and but what i'm actually doing is i'm just
- 37:35changing the size of my voice box yeah yeah exactly
- 37:40exactly what happens when you go through like
- 37:45when you go through puberty um with testosterone
- 37:50some of your vocal cords crack And that can't
- 37:55be undone. But not all of them crack. The ones
- 37:58that are higher up. Yeah. So if my voice had
- 38:03never broken, this is the voice I would have
- 38:06had. Okay. Yeah. That makes sense. I'm curious
- 38:11about something. Does taking medicine, right,
- 38:17going for hormone therapy, does that change your
- 38:21voice as well? Not estrogen. But testosterone.
- 38:24So if you're a trans man, so born female, taking
- 38:30testosterone, your vocal cords will crack. And
- 38:35once they crack, it can't be undone. Actually,
- 38:38most of hormone therapy is reversible. Like if
- 38:43I were to stop now, the physical changes would
- 38:48be quite minimal still. And as time goes by,
- 38:54the things that are not reversible for trans
- 38:59men would be starting to grow a beard. Like your
- 39:02follicles won't switch off. You'll have to do
- 39:05like full hair. Yeah. And I've never had a beard.
- 39:11Like I've never had body hair because. Yeah.
- 39:15Anyway, that's a time story for another time.
- 39:21And then for a trans woman, the thing that you
- 39:26cannot undo, there are two things. The first
- 39:30one is breast growth. Yeah. And the second one
- 39:34is after about six months, there can be potentially
- 39:39permanent damage to male fertility. That bothers
- 39:46me. Yeah. Cat. It's it's it. I think it's odd.
- 39:54I was listening to. To your podcast. Right. The
- 39:58first episode. We were talking with the guys.
- 40:00About this. And I remember one of the guys said
- 40:03like. About. Identifying as. As a woman like.
- 40:13Who would actively choose that. Like it's not.
- 40:17It's not actually a choice. Like because it's
- 40:19like. Looking at how society treats this, that's
- 40:23hard. Yes, you don't do this for fun. You do
- 40:29this because this is for my mental health. If
- 40:31I don't do this, if I have to go back now, I'm
- 40:37going to start. I have suicidal ideation just
- 40:40thinking about it. I can't. There's no other
- 40:43way. Yeah, that's right. I take issue with people
- 40:50that just like state their opinions, you know.
- 40:53But it's just like a principle maybe or just
- 40:56like a concept. No, but you cannot talk about
- 40:58people's life like that. Yeah. You cannot just
- 41:03like just put it inside the box, right, that
- 41:08Nehemiah was talking about and just like say,
- 41:12no, this is. non -normal or this is like whatever
- 41:16and because it's not affecting your life bro
- 41:19and and it's not affecting you in any way to
- 41:22make it maybe more more relatable imagine walking
- 41:25up to the pope and saying christians don't exist
- 41:29they never have it's the same thing I don't understand
- 41:41these people and there's always the argument
- 41:44but yeah but what if my child bro your child
- 41:48goes to school and sees stuff and is still stupid
- 41:53your kid seeing like trans women on the street
- 41:58is not gonna change him come on Again, like,
- 42:02it's not something that anybody chooses to do.
- 42:05And I definitely, I don't want you to be trans.
- 42:08I don't want other kids or people or anyone to
- 42:11be. This is a shitty, this is a shit show. Yeah.
- 42:16It's a disaster. Inviting this, like, who wants
- 42:20to invite this? Like, even what you said, right?
- 42:22Because even with doctors, with some doctors,
- 42:25you might feel that. You know, like, why are
- 42:29you doing this? And having to deal with all that.
- 42:32And then there's the other thing. Who goes searching
- 42:34for this? Who goes searching? I'm actively giving.
- 42:38I'm lucky, okay? I think you can affirm this,
- 42:42but I went through most through my early adulthood
- 42:48up to middle adult as a fairly handsome man.
- 42:55And I was lucky. And now I'm going to get to
- 42:58do it again as a fairly pretty woman. I'm getting
- 43:04pretty privilege on both ends, but I'm giving
- 43:07up male privilege. And that is, that is a real
- 43:12thing. If anybody has ever like from, from the
- 43:18moment that I have told some of my male acquaintances
- 43:23and friends that i am trans and if they have
- 43:26been able to see me as a woman their treatment
- 43:29has taken a 180 and now i'm sitting sitting at
- 43:37a bar trying to interject my thoughts or conversations
- 43:41and suddenly that doesn't matter anymore because
- 43:44you're a girl okay fuck you that is one of the
- 43:49questions right Yeah, that was one of those questions
- 43:51that I had. Like, how do you feel about it now?
- 43:56I'm still she, her all the way. That's me. But
- 44:01honestly, fuck you. Welcome to Womanhood. Oh
- 44:07yeah, the whole quiet little pretty doll. I think
- 44:16that is going to be the title of this episode.
- 44:19yeah you're now privy to like some real shit
- 44:23oh so all the fun all the fun yeah all the fun
- 44:29but you know you know there's there's one thing
- 44:33like um i was saying like i i love to be all
- 44:36the women of my imagination you know and uh reinventing
- 44:44myself and i think this is one of the things
- 44:46that i love about being a woman the fact that
- 44:48i can just like well being a woman in this society
- 44:52let's say because i can just like be creative
- 44:54with my with my style and paint my nails certain
- 44:58colors and use makeup and use you know anything
- 45:01and i love all of these versions right and i
- 45:07am happy for you to be able to do that That is
- 45:12one thing I love about being a woman. And I feel
- 45:16like it's like, I bet it's so exciting. It is
- 45:19so exciting. You have no idea. Exactly. Yeah.
- 45:23I'm glad you get to experience that finally.
- 45:28Hi again. Thank you so much for watching to the
- 45:31end. I am really sorry about the audio quality
- 45:35of this episode. I will remember to project my
- 45:38voice properly next time so that I don't have
- 45:41to over -process it like today. I cannot tell
- 45:45you how long I sat here thinking about where
- 45:49this episode should end and what should be left
- 45:51in and what was just too personal to keep. But
- 45:56I think this is a good spot. I hope you enjoyed
- 46:01it. Don't forget to... subscribe, leave your
- 46:05comments down below and I'll see you next time.