Dressing Burnout

[Teilani]

Are some of ya'll like me and go through long periods where dressing doesn't interest you in the least. I"m on one of those spells right now. I don't think I've fully dressed in two years. I started to get the urge to dress again right around Halloween time, and a small spark might have been ignited to do it again, but for the most part I just haven't felt like doing it in a while.

[Virginia]

Well one established fact is that "once a crossdresser, always a crossdresser." Some of us go through "spells" like you describe. One of our sisters here (A Dr.) feels that there are three stages to being a crossdresser and a crossdresser can be in any of the three stages, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with any of them. They are basically, stage one where you discover you have the "gift" and along with the gift comes a desire to dress: to dress a little or alot, frequency can be determined by many outside influences, family, friends, spouse, guilt, desire, socio-economic influences, etc.
Stage two is basically, you stand in front of a mirror, DRESSED, and pose a few questions, like what the hell is wrong with me? or you just see yourself dressed, or you actually see your anima, your female aspect attempting to express herself - physically by wearing "a dress." The basic bottom line to stage two is you begin a journey to understand why you want to do what you do. If that does not happen you revert to stage one and just dress with no regard as to why - AND THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT!!!! A lot of our sisters are there and very content to stay there!!
Stage three is the acceptance of you anima and you begin to accept it and
nurture it and dressing becomes secondary to beginning to express the feminine characteristics that are a part of you and you begin to develop a desire to share those with everyone you come into contact with. Love, gentleness, empathy, caring, listening, gently touching others, having a sincere desire for their welfare. Yes, the dressing is still a rush and fun but it really does become secondary to surrendering you male aspects to some degree to the (in my opinion) more desireable feminine aspects of a crossdressing!
Sorry to "the powers that be" if I took too many liberties with your treatist!
but this is how I interpret what has been presented!
Love,
Virginia

[Kathy]

I have had my share of "dry" spells as well though I don't remember ever going more than a year. About this time last year I had one that lasted nearly six months.

I would say just two things about it. First, don't worry about it. Second, don't force yourself to dress if you don't feel like it. Whenever you get over the dry spell, you'll just know it is time to grab something frilly.

In the meantime, just enjoy being who you are.

Love,
Kathy

[Paulie]

I agree with Virginia and Kathy on that.
Just go with what you feel.... don't force it or even try to understand.

Just one more thing, tho.....
Resist the urge to purge!!! Pack em up and store your things away if you need to, but you'll be sorry later if you throw anything away.

[Marlena Dahlstrom]

Like others have mentioned, my urge to dress seems to ebb and flow in phases. There were months, each maybe a year or two where I didn't feel the urge. So I don't think you're going through anything abnormal and don't feel "obligated" to do so, if you're not interested. Either the urge will return or it won't -- and either way, if you're happy that's what matters.

BTW, I agree it's better not to purge, although maybe you want to do some pruning. But if you prune, I'd still set that stuff aside for a period of time instead of getting rid of it immediately, just in case you change your mind.

[Merinda]

I,ve only dressed twice since May due to lack of enthusiasm , the interest is still there but I find it hard to get moving these days.

To try and motivate myself I made a list of around 20 places that I could go dressed up during next year & part of the year after , I wont do all that I have listed but it gives me something to look forward too.

[Beth]

I have been finding myself wanting to dress more and more since I have a GG fiance that accepts and likes it.

I use to go through times I purged alot when I was dating other girls and I thought if I found the right one I would'nt need to dress. Boy was I wrong I found the right one and I want to dress more.

I think now the longest I go is about two days at a time wearing guy clothes. When she goes to work I have to dres up for the day unless I have a load to go get. I use to love wearing at least panties while on the road but I started having panic attacks and I feared I would be found out if I had a wreck. I almost quit driving due to the attacks but then I went to the doctor to get onto meds for my condition. I have the paxil that he gave me but have yet to take any because I haven't had any attacks while on the road but I keep them with me as a securty blanket.

Then I went up to IN. kinda dressed one night and had a freak out session. Since then I have not worn any womens things and have been fine driviving. Weard huh?

So now I dress only at home unless I make a latenight run to the local post office.

Sorry for the thread drift but I kind of had to get that off my chest.

Beth

[Absaroka]

I think the ebb and flow is perfectly natural. And although as Virginia says the conventional wisdom is once a CD always a CD sometimes the conventional wisdom is wrong. That peice of wisdom is meant to support those who have failed in their efforts to be rid of CDing rather than saying we must continue.

Andrea

[Steffie]

It's common to loose interest in CDing for a while, especially considering the time and effort involved. I can't speak for others but for me I just let it run its course and don't force myself to dress when I don't feel like it. It's more enjoyable that way. The desire always comes back though. I agree with my other sisters about purging. It is never good to purge but just put your stuff in storage if you refrain from it for a long time.

Steffie