Many pursue excellence, but few ever achieve it. If you are transgender, like me, then you, too, have surpassed what this world projected upon us. Congratulations.
We’ve leveled up, excellence in the face of adversity, and it can be a hard pill to swallow for those who’ve failed to pursue any of their life goals, let alone achieve a massive one such as transitioning. Small closed minds dwell in the remnants of broken dreams.
Couldn’t be me, though. I dream big because I live big.
To be transgender is to be a big picture thinker. It’s to identify and correct a personal issue and to work through years of trials and tribulations to achieve a difficult goal. All the while in society, often being excluded, mocked, belittled, and/or dismissed outright. To still come out the other side of life, feeling and looking a million times better than how we started — a win is a win. What I’ve observed throughout my lifetime is that sometimes people who aren’t succeeding in the moment stay in a hater mentality, unable to be happy for others for the rest of their lives. That’s sad.
No matter what a transphobe has to say — if you are transgender, chances are you’re tougher than most cisgender people. Chances are, you’ve had to be the bigger person time and time again. As transgender people, we are often big picture thinkers, as we are people who have had to think outside of the box of how we started in this lifetime. Many of us have had to navigate microaggressions in addition to complex social and work dynamics, and frequent hate both in real life and online. Compounded over time, it can be exhausting just managing the outside world’s hate alone.
If you are cisgender, think about it, you could learn a lot from transgender people about strength, courage, resilience, and life overall. Once you’re ready to learn, I’ve got a book for you. If you can make it through that one, good, then I’ve got a memoir to follow it up with.
The question is, are you strong enough to read about the life that I have lived? Because you will need tissues.
Are you strong enough to hold yourself accountable for judging those whom you’ve mischaracterized? I should hope the fuck so.
Perhaps I could also ask that of the LGBTQIA+ community regarding myself. Did you all think any of this for me was easy, because that has not been my lived experience. It’s in the memoir. So yeah, start at the source.
Again, many pursue excellence, but few ever achieve it.
How will you stand out in this world?
ABOUT DYLAN THOMAS COTTER:
Rebel with a cause, driven by authenticity, self-expression, and liberation for all.
Dylan Thomas Cotter is a strategist, public relations leader, and brand communications executive with more than fifteen years of experience at the intersection of entertainment, media, and technology.
Cotter is known for securing numerous Tier 1 (top-tier) and Tier 2 media placements across key markets including but not limited to GQ, Rolling Stone, Out Magazine, The Advocate, Pride, Inked Magazine, Real Simple, VICE, KTLA, Reader’s Digest, Mashable, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Life UK, Newsweek, Men’s Health, Parade Magazine, Betches, U.S. News & World Report, Women’s Health Magazine, NursingColleges.com, Women.com, South China Morning Post, Truthout, MIC, The Manual, Curl Magazine, International Business Times UK, TechRound, GB News, The Irish Star US, The Mirror, MSN and AOL.
Cotter is an advisor to founders, artists, and executives on brand positioning, reputation, corporate social responsibility, and strategic communications. As an openly gay transgender professional, Dylan Thomas Cotter is committed to fostering inclusive, respectful, and affirming work environments.
His latest book, THINK LIKE A TRANSGENDER THOUGHT LEADER, is out now, and his memoir, TRANSGENDER & TRIGGERING THE LIFE OF DYLAN THOMAS COTTER, is available now at Barnes & Noble, Harvard Book Store, Book Soup, and Skylight Books, amongst other fine retailers, and is distributed worldwide through IngramSpark.