Humans
“I feel like I am a bird, finally getting out of a cage”
Last year, our Motion-Design expert Chieh made the brave decision to begin a journey towards a huge life change. Searching for your true identity, even in today’s more liberated society, is still far from an easy thing to do. Making the change from girl to boy requires a lot more than just amending your name. Our own Teresa caught up with Chieh to talk about his decision, and how it is impacting his life so far.
Life at trivago: You decided to change your gender, undergoing a process that takes a long time, is expensive and requires tolerance and understanding from your close environment. What made you finally start the process?
Chieh: Well, the final key that made me start is related to love, and future path choice issues. I was going through a lot of heartbreak a year ago, and it made me reflect on my own confidence issues. I found that every time, the excuse for someone not going further with me in relationship was because I am not a guy. This hurt because I am fully a guy in my heart, I just don’t have the body. Meanwhile, I wanted to take the next steps in my career path, and I deeply felt that I just didn’t have the confidence to pursue the next steps. These things made me realize that gender issue is such a big obstacle in my life, and if I can deal with it now, my life will be much easier and I will be much more fearless to face the future.
Life at trivago: Do you want to share your experiences so far?
Chieh: So far the experience with using testosterone is great, I almost reached my one year mark. Everyday I am happy to see my body change to a more male pattern. Even though I haven’t done the surgeries, I already feel I am like a bird that finally got out a cage and starting to fully embrace who I really am in physical way. The experience with applying surgery coverage from insurance is not so great, but I will get there!
Life at trivago: What does “Pride” represent for you?
Chieh: Pride for me represents the idea of being free, and being whoever you are really inside. Society shapes us to believe the bond between male and female is the only valid relationship in the world. That forces everyone to fit into a tiny gender stereotype box, so people just blindly follow the future paths they are “taught” to go for. Pride is not just celebrations of being in LGBT community. It is more an idea to say I am rejecting the labels society is putting on me, and I am living as whoever I really am.
Next week, we host a pride party at trivago HQ. Click the banner for more details.
