But for Gabbi the physical element was just one sliver of her transition. Learning to love who she was on the inside was a much larger piece.
Three months before her facial surgery, she had to stop getting Botox and allow any fillers in her face to dissolve so that the surgeon could get an accurate picture. And, for three months after she wouldn’t be able to wear any wigs or hairpieces.
“I realized at that very moment, I had three months to get right with myself,” Gabbi shared. “I looked in the mirror and I asked myself, ‘If for any reason, this surgery didn’t go through, would I be able to live the rest of my life like this?'”
The answer: An unequivocal yes. “I don’t care what I look like, I love me,” she explained. “I’m a great human. My family loves me, my friends love me, I have a great time wherever I go. I’m helping people change their lives, like, it doesn’t matter what I look like. And then I started to venture out as me, no makeup, no hair, just whatever my body was at the time. And I slowly became comfortable with that.”