Why is the Therian/Kin community important to you?

I had a sudden thought to make a thread asking...Why is the therian/kin community important to you? I believe this is on topic for this thread, but if not just let me know.

I think this would be good for non-therians and new comers alike to see. On one hand we show why something like this needs to exist, that it isn't just a game or pretend, on the other newer therians see what they have to look forward to and why it was a good choice in making this about of their self discovery journey.

I'll start.

To be honest I do still feel like an outlier in the community at times, an anomaly among the anomalies. But honestly, I feel like that everywhere anyway no matter what I do. Still though this is a place I am most myself, and myself is just...odd. This community is important to me because, community is just important. It provides a safe haven for those that just can't help not feeling all the way human. In a world that dislikes different, it's important to have a place of our own to not have to feel like "the other". To feel like the way we are is normal and not all that crazy or strange, to not feel alone in this experience.

I am a dreamer and an optimistic, though I am also a doer. Might we one day see a world we're being therian/kin isn't all that strange and ridiculed? I think so, and it can only come about by showing the world that we can be a powerful, freeing, reasonable, and highly functioning community. We are creative, intelligent and deal with things most people would simply go crazy with. Yet we all keep trying and moving forward.

That's something worth respecting and feeling proud in oneself about. I think it's important for us all to see that. I'm here because it's the most at home place I feel, and I want to help others feel at home to. To help others maybe begin to see a blessing and gift in something that is indeed at times very stressful and complicated, and see that it might not always have to be that way. That one can create a future for themselves where they find inner peace and contentment. This place and this community needs to exist to show people that.

Why is it important to you?

Hmmn, at first, in my early days within the community, it was all about who had the most unique kintype, who had the most, who was the most popular, etc.

This is **NOT** what being a therian is about! It's about self discovery, making friends, finding out that you're not alone, finding answers, being helped, and so forth.

Be ready to be called names by any other community out there when you say you are a therian, otherkin, kith, fictionkin, etc. People WILL call you names in public and behind your back. (Even if it mostly is minor. To other communities we are weird, odd, not within the normal spectrum of basic)

You'll have to take the ups and downs that sometimes comes with being in a community.

I found great friends here, I found who I am, I found who I could trust, I found family. This forum here I feel at home, I feel like I can truly be me here.

For me, an old beast who has been around for ages, it's not so much about the discovery aspect anymore. Even when getting in to the community, I already knew myself and what I experienced. So for me it's having a place where I can relate to others, and they relate to me.

And this community specifically is where I rest my feet. It's aged well and is level headed, but still welcoming and friendly. It gives me a place where I can use what I've learned to help others, and it helps me to feel less alone, which isn't common in human society anymore.

Initially when I came here a year ago it was basically about accepting myself. Then it was and still is about being able to understand or navigate the peculiarities of my experiences as a therian - and as with why any community exists, it's about having a social circle that understands these experiences and who I can empathise with. Everyone wants someone they can relate to.

When I first discovered this forum I was frantic to get in because the promise of others out there who understood what I had been struggling with was so important and needed, and is still needed.

The existence of the community helped me to understand my "lynxy side" of me, the dream shifts I expired several times and this odd feeling of not belonging to this society.
I thought at first this feeling to be not fully human and my dream shifts are some kind of advanced spirit animal thing.

It is hard to feel less human than everyone else I know. But finding this community gave me the feeling to be understood in my different way.

I get feeling like the odd one out. And I admit that I have stopped sharing certain ideas that cross my mind when it comes to my therianthropy because I don't want to seem crazy. (No one here has ever said anything like that though! Just me being worried.)

Why is it important to me, I recently asked myself this. Why do I come back when I constantly doubt myself and have no confidence anyways.

The thing is, without the community I wouldn't be where I am with my journey at all. At least I assume so. I could and can ask questions and the answers are always honest and helpful.

I'm not seen as crazy here, which is a first for me. And it's a good thing, hopefully one day it kicks out this learned mindset of "not normal = crazy".

I can be myself and even if my own experiences are likely not all that relatable to many, that still stands.

I had moments where I just wanted to give it up. Just for this to be me simply overthinking labels. There are always different views and opinions and I can find something I would have never considered.

I also often felt like my drawings are generally more liked by therians than others. So there's that.

I still easily get hung up on trying to push myself into a box because of definitions. But then it becomes obvious that there is no "traditional therian", and we're all individuals.

Without the community I'd genuinely miss something. Sometimes I need a break but I always come back. All it takes is a random therian moment, and who better to share this with than other therians.

The community is really nice, there's a sense of belonging and connection and it helps put to words the things I experience in a way that doesn't make me feel crazy. It's something I enjoy coming to every once in a while.

It's great to be around likeminded people. Just something one can relate to and talk about with others without fear of judgment or really anything. That and it's nice to have a name for what we are experiencing.

The therian/otherkin community is really important to me because it helps me to understand myself better, for so many years I shrugged off my animalistic traits and behaviours completely, just seeing it as "weird" and trying to suppress it.. but now i know that there is a whole community of literally thousands of people who share this experience, i know that i'm not alone, and that's really helping me to come to terms with who i am and make me feel better about myself...

I also find the therian/otherkin community to be really important to me because it provides me with opportunities to learn more about other peoples experiences, which is something that i have always been really fascinated with... before i joined Therian Guide i had no idea that otherkin could stretch as far as gods/goddesses or spirits... having the opportunity to not only learn of that but also interact with people who feel that way has been enlightening in more ways than one.

The spiritual conversations within the community are also something i cherish, and the ability to speak to other people with similar beliefs and who are open-minded really is something...

Not to mention that i also just love talking to like-minded people and making new friends as well, that part is awesome too :D

This community is important to me because before finding it, I didn't even know what therianthropy was and I was convinced something was wrong with me. When I found this community I no longer felt alone, I understood why I was experiencing the things I was, and I no longer felt I had to be ashamed of who I was. It put a long internal battle at ease, I finally felt at peace with myself, and probably the absolute best thing I gained from joining this community was the ability to talk and interact with others like me, who understood and who are just fun individuals to be around. I can lower my guard and be completely myself in this community.