I'm just sharing my opinions, thoughts, and appreciation here, note that I understand it can be hard to be heard in these spaces sometimes as a trans person, but I'm here in high hopes <3

To start off with, I love this series, I love the characters, and I love the journey we experience as we follow these characters.
I'm not going to directly compare my journey to any particular journey of any character, but I'm going to lay out similarities of how I've felt in my journey compared to some of the characters.

Particularly of note is that a lot of how Kaladin feels matches with some of the darkest days I've had in the past. In my past I've had feelings of being up on that ledge, of wanting to take the step over it. While I may not have taken direct inspiration from his ability to take a step away and be strong in his conviction, I did read the first and second book right before I started medically transitioning.
It took a lot for me to reconcile the voices within myself, often conflicting on how I wanted to move forward in my life, and who I wanted to be, in ways like Shallan. I wouldn't say that those voices were quite as... Strong as hers, but in some ways Veil felt reminiscent of the mental shield and blocker I used to protect myself from the outside world for so long.

When I did eventually start transitioning, it felt reminiscent of the journeys that the Radiants take to discover themselves and who they are, discovering who they wanted to be. It wasn't easy, there were pitfalls abound and it was painful for many reasons. But I'm also stronger than ever before, both in terms of my own convictions in life and my own identity. I thank the advances of medical technology for acting as a sort of stormlight for me, and my husband who acted as a form of spren in some ways- staying with me during the process, encouraging me, believing in me.
These are metaphors of course, I don't really have magical abilities, and medical science is great but flawed in many ways. (On the other hand, my husband is probably the best spren in the entire world if we were to compare like that ;P).

After finishing Rhythm of War last night, I can say honestly that this series was at the very least something that grew with me these last several years, and are something that I can't wait to see how they continue to grow, just as I can't wait to see what comes next in my journey.

Thanks to those who did end up reading, and I want to give a shoutout to Sanderson, since these books really did move me in a lot of ways, and while I understand why he doesn't want to necessarily represent trans people within the books, I'd be all the more interested to see his take if he ever changed his mind on that- from the way he handled Shallan and Jasnah, I think he'd be able to do so respectfully.

Quick Edit:

Thank you to all of the responses so far and any that I may get in the future as well. This community is so wholesome and sweet, and it means a lot to me that so many people can share these feelings even if they don't have the same ones that I do. The love and respect that I have for this community was already high, but it's grown exponentially today <3