I hadn’t the slightest clue I was trans until I was almost 30. But saying I didn’t have dysphoria all along would be wrong. That said, when I first realized I was not cis (I didn’t quite think of myself as trans immediately), I thought I didn’t “really” have dysphoria. Chronic dissociation (DPDR) can hide a lot of those feelings. Still in retrospect, I feel pretty stupid. There were some extremely obvious and unambiguous signs going back to at least puberty (I didn’t know what trans was back then though, so I didn’t have the words to describe how I felt).
I hadn’t the slightest clue I was trans until I was almost 30. But saying I didn’t have dysphoria all along would be wrong. That said, when I first realized I was not cis (I didn’t quite think of myself as trans immediately), I thought I didn’t “really” have dysphoria. Chronic dissociation (DPDR) can hide a lot of those feelings. Still in retrospect, I feel pretty stupid. There were some extremely obvious and unambiguous signs going back to at least puberty (I didn’t know what trans was back then though, so I didn’t have the words to describe how I felt).