crossdressing and self-bondage beyond the ropes

I’ve been practicing self-bondage since I was around eleven or twelve, and cross-dressing to feel more like a damsel in distress. Now at twenty-two, it has become something I want to do constantly. It seems it helped me realize I wanted to actually be female; while I enjoyed dressing up for my sessions, as I grew older I preferred to dress, act, feel, and exist as a girl in every way. Self-bondage really assisted me in discovering who I truly am. I’m curious if anyone else has discovered their true self through the practice of self-bondage.

I began my journey with self-bondage and cross-dressing a long time ago, experimenting with both before I turned ten without fully understanding why. As I aged, they became sexual turn-ons, so I did them more often, but life, girlfriends, and later my wife pushed them aside. However, I returned to both SB and cross-dressing a few years back, then got into "real-life" BDSM at play parties. At those events, I always wore female attire but stopped the self-bondage because someone else was there to tie me up or be tied by me. Nowadays, my wife doesn't like it when I wear women's clothes, so I don't cross-dress as much anymore, though she has enthusiastically joined our BDSM life, which is a great compromise:D Aside from wondering what being female would feel like, I’ve never truly wanted to be female or thought I should be. My cross-dressing was mostly about enjoying the sensory experience of clothing and the excitement they brought. Interestingly, as I started frequenting play-parties where I was constantly in drag, it became my "uniform," marking the shift between daily life and kink. The sexual thrill from being cross-dressed pretty much faded; it just felt natural. I know several men who have transitioned or habitually dress female, all coming from my BDSM circle, but I’m not sure if they are taking that path specifically because of self-bondage. In my view, accepting and experiencing your alternative sexuality gives you the freedom to explore how you genuinely feel, rather than sticking to pre-conceived stereotypes. Accepting that my sexuality wasn't "standard issue" allowed me to come out to myself, and eventually to My Lady:D