Anonymous User asked: 5, 10, 15
From the Otherkin ask game:
5 - If you could choose your identity, would you still be you? Who would you be?
Whether this is an otherkin-specific topic or about my overall identity, I honestly wouldn't change a thing. I'm content being who I am. Though I sometimes long to be a feline, know I can't be in a literal physical sense. I'm a human whether I like it or not.
However, I do wonder how different things would be as a feline. Whether that would entail being feral, anthro, or taur I don't know. What I do know is that in doing so I would give up a large part of my humanity, which I would be content with.
Being an anthro feline would strike a good balance and feel the most natural to me, but it would be hard not also having the opportunity to be a taur or feral at least once in a while. So if I could, I would keep my options open and default to an anthro feline, preferably a snow leopard.
GIMME THE CREATURE HRT
10 - Do most of your friends know about your identity? Why?
I believe so, yes. I have friends who look at it from a variety of perspectives. A couple were incredulous but understanding. Many fully accept it and embrace it, because they themselves either have otherkin friends (other than myself) or are otherkin themselves. And some are neutral, which makes sense because being otherkin doesn't really change the friendship dynamic. It may bring up some mild intrigue but that peters off pretty quickly.
Why? I told them or they asked outright. There's a theta-delta (θΔ) in my bio so that became a point of conversation on a few occasions.
15 - Do you struggle with self acceptance for who you are/have been?
Initially, yes. I struggled for a while to accept that I was otherkin. Nothing really "changed" in the end. It just became clear to me that other people share these experiences that I have had for so long and either chalked it up to mental illness or an overactive imagination. It's something I embraced and suppressed on and off throughout my life, though I didn't have the language for it at the time.
I thought being otherkin meant your "soul" was that of an animal in a metaphysical sense. In reality it just means you identify as a non-human entity like a ferret or a dragon. How that sense of identification comes about is unique to the individual, but for me it was through an understanding that I carry myself in a very cat-like manner, I like being referred to as a feline creature, and I would become a feline creature in real life if given the opportunity. I don't regret having been born a human, but it's nice to wonder "What if?".
Thanks anonbug! :3