My name is Alex Kessler. I am junior psychology major with a minor in entrepreneurship. I am originally from Anderson, Ind.

I never felt comfortable in my own skin. I knew since the age of two that I was in the wrong body.  I didn’t know what was “wrong” with me. Anytime that my schoolmates and I would play house I would throw a fit if they placed me in the feminine role. I always had to be the father, brother, uncle, the random male friend of the family; I didn’t care what it was as long as I could be the male. My family always just referred to me as a tomboy, and assumed that I would just grow out of the stage that I was in.

I came out as gay when I was 13 because this is what my peers told me. They called me butch so that automatically made me lesbian. This eased me because it made it a little easier for me to understand “what was wrong with me.”

Since I was six, I have thought about committing suicide. I figured that was the only way out, and that I would rather take my life then have someone else take it. There were many days that I was scared to set foot into my school because people would tell me that they would kill me.

I never knew that there was a difference between sex and gender until I came to college. That’s when I started hearing the word transgender and transsexual. I knew that I was transgender.

Everyone has a falling out year, and mine was last year. I was so depressed and over come with anxiety. I wasn’t doing well in my classes, I dropped out of almost all my activities I was in, and I just hated life. I can remember many times where I would just get into my car and drive and not sure if I would return to my apartment or not because I wanted to just slam my car into one of the many trees that I would pass alongside of the road.

I wasn’t sure if I was ever going to get out of the funk that I was in, but then one day it just hit me and I knew what I had to do. I sent a text message to one of my friends and asked him if he could help me start the process of transitioning. I have now been transitioning for eight months now. I take testosterone injections weekly I have asked people to change my pronoun to he, and I am in the process or getting my name changed legally to Alex. I have come out to my family, friends, professors, etc. I have never been happier. I know it’s a long process but I am glad that I started it.

It’s not been easy, but then again what in life is?