Crossdressers-Haven.com

Hi everyone,
Iv'e a question for the CD girls here. Do you find dressing helps relieve stress or does stress stop you from dressing?
For me, I'm definitely in the latter, I know I suffer from depression so it might influence things a bit, but I find I can't cope when I'm under stress... Iwant to hide, I stop being creative, artistic etc and en-drab becomes en-very drab!! I hate myself at these times and the colour of life leaves me... I become boring!!
When I feel good I'm emotional, creative, I feel overwhelmed by the beauty in life... It's these times I'm more inclined to dress.
I was wondering how you girls feel on this subject
Love to all
Rebecca xxx

Rebecca, very good question. If you read some of the previous posts I think you will find that the reasons are a broad spectrum of desires. One of the most recent was Julie's "I just gotta dress and go out!" Some dress to relieve stress. others are under tremendous stress when they dress for fear of "getting caught," but they do it anyway = bless'em - you go girls!.
Some of our sisters can go days, weeks or months without dressing. Some (myself included) have reached a stage where dressing is secondary to enjoying the emothinal growth that this gift gives us and our sharing it with anyone and everyone.
My recommendation is that girls in the stage of questioning why and how they feel about dressing is to really ask yourself what state your mind is in, before you dress, then while you are dressing and finally how you feel when you look in the mirror after you dress. I come back to the same old question: when you are dresssed and look into the mirror and I mean really look into the mirror - who do you see? Do you see a guy in a dress or do you see a woman expressing herself through you?
I sincerely believe that knowing who is in the mirror becomes the key to understanding for each individual.
Hope this helps,
Love,
Deborah

For me, it is a little of both. If I am feeling really stressed out, not because of dressing but due to other influences in my life, it does put a damper on my wanting to dress up. As you say, stress can just drain the life out of you. But I have learned to recognize the symptoms of stress as it is starting to take hold of me. If I catch it early on, and have the opportunity to dress at that time, then the act of dressing can be very relaxing for me and the stress just melts away.

If I can't dress right then, I immediately start looking for ways to releive the stress before it sucks the life out of me. Deep regular breathing, in through the nose - out through the mouth works wonders. Grab the headphones and some soothing music on the CD player. Or, being a country girl, I can just go out on the front porch and lose myself in the scenery around my house. If you are at work, just get up from your desk immediately and go for a walk. Even if just to the water cooler and back.

Stress is an evil killer. You need to learn your own symptoms and take immediate action to relieve it.

Rebecca,
I am some what like Kathy, I hate stress so when I am feeling the least bit down I dress up special and give myself a treat, losing myself in the beautiful feminine frills. Works wonders for me.

Hi all,

I usually dress when I feel mellow and peaceful. When stressed, I meditate. Or take time off.

Love,
CJ

I am very fortunate to have a loving, supporting wife, our own house to ourselves, and the freedom to dress up most evenings.

I find dressing up is great stress relief, even though I stay at home and come to this website. Besides participating on this forum, the most I do is help with the laundry - usually folding and putting away, sometimes going down cellar where we hang things to dry to bring the dry clothes up - I love the sound of my heels on the concrete floor.

Jadeanne

Hi Rebecca:
Gotta agree with Kathy also on this one. Dressing really helps me un-stress. Picking out an outfit, getting dressed and concentrating on putting on my makeup(getting to the point where even my glasses don't help requires even more concentration) really helps to take my mind off work, or whatever is bothering me.
Gotta admit, this is a lot lower impact than jogging (except the impact to the pocket book)
Huggs, Bonnie

My intrest in crossdressing began when I was going through a nasty time with a failed relationship that involved a child. I'm not sure if this was what some would call the trigger but I do know that as I lost myself in the sensations of satin and lace all the negative things that were going on seemed to disappear. I didn't think of it as stress at the time but that's exactly what it was. By the time I was dressing completely as a woman I had also discovered the wonderful feelings associated with it and was always in a good mood.
I have little stress in my life now other than the normal everyday stuff of not having enough hours to do the things that need to be done around the house. Dressing now is something I do because it is part of who I am and I dress whether I'm having a good day or a bad day. But I have to say that having my wife's support is THE major factor in helping my feminine side evolve and thus giving us a fully open relationship free of any shame, guilt or opposition that is so often associated with crossdressing.

Hi Rebecca,

Ordinarily I will dress to relieve the stress, but things have gotten so bad lately that the stress has robbed me of my desire to dress.

Hi girls,
Thankyou everyone for replying to my post, I really appreciate every comment. I,m sorry Iv'e not replied sooner, but I'm like a yo-yo...up and down.. up and down.
I think I have conflicts in myself, not about dressing itself, but how to match en-femme with en-drab. There is no way as things stand that I could show the real me to anyone but ~D~, my partner. I only have to show a slightly feminine trait (no offence meant to the GG's here, I know I'm generalising, if only I could find the same freedom as a man!) when in bloke mode, to be put down by family, friends, let alone strangers. It's just not the done thing!
Another question that floats about in my head is, why does my spiritual well-being need money spent on it? I mean, clothes, wigs, make-up for me to feel good? I tell myself that's just how things are, they're props to help me express myself. These props are a statement of fashion, style etc. This is a product of society, so why do I need to hide behind closed doors? My mental strength is quite low, It doesn't take much for me to struggle.
It's these sorts of questions that play around in my head, and then the stress of life takes it's toll (things aren't going quite to plan in daily life) and the simple desire of 20 years ago to get dressed (ah... it was all so simple then) becomes a complicated issue.
Maybe all in all, I'm beginning to realize that there's more than just putting on a frock involved
Sorry Iv'e rambled on a bit, it sometimes gets a bit chaotic in this head of mine
Must say once again ... this is a really great site
Love to all
Rebecca xxx

Rebecca wrote:Hi everyone,
Iv'e a question for the CD girls here. Do you find dressing helps relieve stress or does stress stop you from dressing?
For me, I'm definitely in the latter, I know I suffer from depression so it might influence things a bit, but I find I can't cope when I'm under stress... Iwant to hide, I stop being creative, artistic etc and en-drab becomes en-very drab!! I hate myself at these times and the colour of life leaves me... I become boring!!
When I feel good I'm emotional, creative, I feel overwhelmed by the beauty in life... It's these times I'm more inclined to dress.
I was wondering how you girls feel on this subject
Love to all
Rebecca xxx

Hi Rebecca,

You know .. I can't remember any more.. lol.

I dress when I want now, so I can't say if it relieves my stress. So I also guess that means yes it does.

Great question!!!

Beauty