Acceptance is worth it

[anonymousperson0123]

I have always been very conscious of my gynecomastia. I NEVER took my shirt off, never wore tight clothing, and DESPISED hot summer days when everyone else was running around shirtless, and I sat roasting in a hoodie.

Recently i went river rafting, and half way through i was soaking wet and extremely uncomfortable, and something just clicked, and i said "Fu** it" and i took off my shirt. the first thing that was awesome is that none of my friends even looked at my chest, and i was watching to see....i guess they didn't notice as much as i do. I think that ppl play it out in there had that it is weird and everyone will see and make fun of you, but it is really just us who really notice. and one of my other friends had puffy nipples, and he didnt care one bit...I was the only one that seemed to notice, and only because i have them too. I think the only way to come to terms with what you have is to just take off your shirt one day around close friends, and see what happens. Either they will not notice and nothing will happen, or they will notice, make fun of you for a minute (cuz thats what close friends do) and then the cat's out of the bag, and no more worrying about anyone noticing, because your friends already know.
Just do it one day, go swimming, and take off your shirt. Dont let it bring you down.

[Bman41]

Cool, glad you were able to be yourself.

I recently finally got the courage to go swimming with the fam, not a lot of people around and no one seemed to care if anyone noticed.  I still don't like showing, but it is nice to be able to do some normal things. 

[jsboob]

this is very typical.. the person MOST concerned about your boobs is YOU! most other people either dont really notice ( cos its not as bad as you think) or they dont care 'cos they have more pressing things to worry about!
Its really not that uncommon its just media hype that makes folk think they are freaks if they have a lttle extra breast tissue.
everyone is different... thank god!

[gotgyne]

In most of the cases this might be true, unless you have a large gynecomastia.
Some months ago my wife and me were in a sauna cabin. Here in Germany it is common to be completely nude inside and most cabins are mixed with men and women. Nobody seemed to care about it.
Nevertheless I won't conceal that I feel very uncomfortable if my breasts bounce which happens if I run or jump. Or if I bend dowm my upper body and they're more prominent.

John

[JohnDoe80]

Funny how my gyno started to develop when i was around the age of 20, 2 years ago. I didn't really think of it as such a negative issue. I wasn't aware of why my nipples had suddenly started to change but I didn't really care.

Then summer came around and I proceeded to work without a shirt on as usual, but all of a sudden everybody was commenting on my newly grown moobs. If nobody had ever commented, I would never have developed a issue.

[Paa_Paw]

An odd chain of events on vacation a couple of years ago led to me going into the pool at a resort. It was a liberating experience. Now I think nothing of going out wearing a tee shirt. Something I had avoided for over 50 years.

[Endless]

i tried accepting my gyne, i realized it takes a lot of constant effort. it needs to be maintained, not like surgery which fixes it once and for all, i constantly needed to work for acceptance, religiously. acceptance also lead to overconfidence.. making believe i was normal.. subconsciously being abit more carefree and confident in tshirt choices.. or carefree in activities like running, etc. or putting on a few pounds.. then the gyne reared its ugly end again. it doesn't just disappear or physically fix itself. acceptance worked for me but it eventually got too heavy and stressing.

i think maybe the most i could do was temporarily forget about having gyne, but i could never really accept my body. i could accept it sometimes when i was alone, but not when i was around people. it was never something i would "let anyone else accept".

way to go and keep it up, i think it really takes courage

[robirobi]

Finally someone that makes sense. I am 40yo and I come from a very  hot place and our summers are very long so you spend quite a lot of time almost naked. I always take off my shirt at the beach and in 40 years I only had one single comment. I had more comments for other stuff like my belly (which is not huge by the way) than my moobs! It is only in our heads. I can understand if someone has huge breasts but the reality is that only a small percentage of people have big ones!

[gotgyne]

This Saturday evening my wife and me attended a meeting of a local hiking club. We watched a movie of the annual trip to the Alps. One of the members, a male of about 70 years, had a pronounced gynecomastia. But he was not in the least embarrassed about his condition. No one made fun of him. So not the other people but we are our worst enemy.

John

[Paa_Paw]

Very true, we are our own worst enemies. I guess it has always been that way.

When I was much younger I hoped that someday the condition would be so well known and understood that no one would really care.

I was in my 50's when computers led to the internet and I seriously thought that the days when gynecomastia  carried any stigma would soon be passsed as information spread.

Instead we have entered an age where Photoshop makes it possible for pictures to frequently represent someones opinion of the ideal rather than honest reality.

The result is that young women have their breasts enlarged so they can look normal and young men have theirs reduced for the same reason. With a few rare exceptions, they were normal to begin with.

[hammer]

You speak the truth my friend, the reality of normal is the way we are born and grow from there. Man made, is not normal, or reality, just look at the Barbie and Ken doll!

[Whatcha]

That's right, well sometimes I think my friends notice my gyno but they don't worry about it as much as I do. Probably they didn't even think about it, just notice it.