What is an Awakening

Hello,

We've been getting more new people here talking about "their Awakening" and what happened because of it, and I found out we don't have a thread about this here yet.

So... in general having words that are only used in the therian community is bad, because it makes us look like a cult. It also makes people like new therians, who don't understand what the words mean, attribute meaning to the words, that they do not have.

So, to avoid any further misunderstanding, allow me to explain to you what exactly Awakening actually is:


Your Awakening is not some magical thing that converts you from a human into a therian creature or anything like that. The Awakening is simply a word that describes the excitement we therians usually feel when we first discover the community.

The word stuck, because every one of us has at some point felt excited to discover the community and there's not really like a quick way to describe it, other than to call it an Awakening, which is what it was called for a long time (I mean in the history of the online therian community, 1994 is a long time ago).


Many of us feel like therianthropy is something in-born and therefore you do not ever actually become a therian -- you were a therian all along and then at some point you discovered what being like that was called, when you learned about therianthropy and discovered the community.

This is typically a pretty positive experience, at least that's how I remember it. I know that things are changing, but back when I discovered therianthropy on AHWw, there wasn't much of a community yet, I just read that FAQ about it and found 2-3 other people who thought they experienced the same thing as me. I was suddenly no longer alone and the things about me that I learned were therian, suddenly made sense.


Keep in mind that finding a place to belong is a positive experience for everyone, and there will always be people who find us and will be happy to have found us, who are not therians. We can't tell you if you're a therian or not, you have to find that out on your own, so... welcome. And please try and stay true to yourselves... even if it turns out you're not one of us, we can still be friends.

LP,
Dusty

I've described Awakening as that moment where you finally realize you're something other than human. You've been this way all your life, it's just that sudden realization of learning about the terms, experiences and community.

It's that lightbulb, aha!, moment of sudden understanding and going "YES, THAT'S ME!!!".

(2023-12-16 17:45)elicat Wrote:  I've described Awakening as that moment where you finally realize you're something other than human. You've been this way all your life, it's just that sudden realization of learning about the terms, experiences and community.

It's that lightbulb, aha!, moment of sudden understanding and going "YES, THAT'S ME!!!".

I agree! I'm a relatively new therian but I spent all my life with these struggles of being therian, naturally. So when I found out this community exists, and that I'm one of them I felt excited and relieved. I was glad to know I wasn't the only one with these struggles, and that I'm not insane like I thought I was. Being able to finally understand I was a animal born in a human body is something that put me to ease, finally.

Not everybody has one. I'd say that most of the time, that "lightbulb moment" is more of a long, slow, and drawn out period of research and self reflection.

I think this Awakening is almost literal. Much of our thoughts and feelings are unconscious and awakening means becoming conscious. Sometimes the mind can play tricks though. I wake up, get ready and I'm at work and then the alarm clock goes off. Awakening is a process too. In my experience there has been awakening, dormancy, processing, awakening, processing...

@"DustWol Wrote:The Awakening is simply a word that describes the excitement we therians usually feel when we first discover the community.

Yeah, we're not meant to exist in isolation. I think this has to do with consciousness in a way too.