It's been a year since I began to seriously reconsider my gender identity, but I think I'm finally beginning to understand who I am. I've done my best not to force myself into feeling a certain way, but even on the days I've tried not to think about it, I've still felt like a woman. I've been interested in cross-dressing since I was a teenager. I dislike having facial and body hair. Although dysphoria hasn't been that strong for me, it has been there to some degree. I'm not ready to completely commit to this, but at this point it seems very likely. I wish I knew what to do about it. If I'm accepted to grad school, I'll be more free to live as I see fit. If not, I'll be with my family for a year. Telling them will be hard enough even if I don't live with them. I've heard them treat being trans as a joke, and if the "joke" were to hit too close to home, they would definitely not take it well. I'm scared. It's getting hard to fight the depression. But if identifying as a woman is what it takes to love my life again, then so be it.
Well done on progress. I don't know what to suggest, except explain it. Make them understand how rubbish your life is as a man, and how you are actually female. Make them realize that addressing you as male highlights the disparity between male and female, which isn't nice whether you have dysphoria or not. If they love you, they will understand with time.
Even if you're not 100% certain yet about what you are, I want to congratulate you on your progress thus far (*hug*) Also, have you looked up 'alternative' gender identities e.g. demigirl or similar? Not that I've any reason to believe you are not a transwoman, just wondering if you've taken a look at the different possibilities? Hang on. things will get better.
I've looked at a few of the less well-known ones. I thought I was bigender at first, but decided my masculine side was really just me trying to be normal, and didn't have any actual value to me. Some of them are a bit hard to understand, but I'm learning.
