The name I was given does not feel like mine. It never has. I answer to it. I sign it. I hear it called across rooms and I turn my head. But something in me does not answer.
I have not told anyone. It feels too small to say and too big to explain.
— Anonymous
A Reflection
A name is one of the first things placed on us before we can consent. It is not strange that it might not fit. It is strange that we expect it to.
You do not have to change anything today. You do not have to justify a feeling to anyone in order for it to be real.
Perhaps, in private, you might try a name that feels closer. Say it in a quiet room. Write it on a page you will not send. Notice what your body does. That is information, not decision.
You are already the person who noticed. That is where every becoming begins.