Date: 26th of September 2016
Time: 5am
Location: My bed.

My alarm goes off. This is it. This is D-Day. The day I finally start living full time as my biological gender. The day I start working as my biological gender. The start of the rest of my life. My life will never be the same again. I cannot wait!

I have to get up at 5am to have enough time to get ready, have breakfast and drive to work. My new morning regime consists of the following:

1. Shave
2. Shower
3. Cleanse/Tone/Moisturise
4. Makeup
5. Get dressed
6. Hair
7. Breakfast
8. Clean teeth
9. Put on coat & shoes
10. Drive to work 

I know some of you do this every day and have done for years - I am in absolute awe of you. You have my total respect. Parts 1-6 take me an hour, which, considering I have only been applying makeup for a few years, is not too bad. The shaving everyday is the worst part though. It leaves my skin quite sore sometimes. It's not been as bad as I thought it would be this week, but I will need one day without shaving just to let my skin recuperate.

It's quite a change from my old regime of get dressed, breakfast, clean teeth, Coat & shoes and drive to work. All in the space of 25 mins, or 15 mins if in a rush!

Putting on my uniform for the first time was like getting ready for my first day at school. Everything had to be just right, neat and tidy. I had to look the part. I just wanted to blend in and look convincing enough to pass as me and at least make people second guess. What do you think?

These were taken about 6am - not bad considering it was my first early start and my first basic work makeup trial. The combination of feeling nervous and excited were really starting to hit me at this point. In the past, it would have been too much for me and I could not have gone through with it. It shows me how far I have come over the past few years that it did not faze me at all.

So, how did my first day go? To be honest, OK. I admit it was a little weird going into the building as me at first. It took me a couple of hours to get used to the fact that I was finally at work as me. It wasn't much different to begin with. The routines were the same, the branch was the same, it was just my vessel was different.

It was 7.30am, time to open. My heart started beating a little faster. This was the culmination of 4 months of planning finally being put into practice. My nerves were at their peak. The doors opened and............no one. The car park was empty. A total anti-climax!

Some of the regular customers had already been told and the first customer in was one of those. Strangely, the nerves subsided and the customer was fine. I tried to serve as many customers as I could, just to give me more confidence. I have had lots of support from the regular customers - so far. It is early days and things may change.

One highlight of my first day, was the delivery of a humongous bunch of flowers from one of the other branches in my area. Hand delivered by a member of staff (who has been supportive from day one), with a card signed from everyone at the branch. It was such a fabulous thing for them to do - I did nearly cry!

Overall, my first week has been a learning curve, a confidence boost and a view on how, as a female, you are treated differently. I will leave this post here and will expand on this and how living full time has been in my next post. xx