uping this thread cause its important. i'l be safe!

I feel like that my theriothropy comes from being introduced to nature at a very young age, which makes nature have a special part in my heart. As a kid, I went to a unique school that focused a lot on nature and teaching kids about it, and I was encouraged to roll around in mud and generally be a weirdo.

Thing is, when I transferred to public school, I had realized that the connection I had to nature had been something I took for granted, and didn't fully appreciate it. I felt lonely without trees always surrounding me. I hated being with large groups of kids who talked weirdly and smelled like chemicals, and being forced into tiny, brick walled classrooms.

I feel like theriothropy is something that helps soothe the loneliness I felt and feel, and it gives me peace of mind to know that I will always be part of nature, despite trying to use toilets that were covered in vandalism and dealing with people constantly telling me my handwriting is chicken scratch

ty for warning us I'll keep an eye out

I really want to say and believe it was isolation, as when I found myself suddenly alone in middleschool it left a trace in my psyche till this day. I want to say it was to deal with that, that I was weird on my own but my brain created an 'animal persona' so that my incompatability would be explainable. But I acted like this before middleschool. I acted like a dog since at least 7yo, that's the furthest I can remember. It was never big, a few things here and there, nothing to get anyone concerned. But it was always there. So now I have nothing else to say except I was born like this, still connected to my past life somehow.

When your spirit guide more or less clobbers you over the head and says "this is what you are." You kind of take note.

I want to answer this, but I don’t want to go into a lot of detail right now. But I believe mine is caused by several things- most of it is related to subconscious coping. The earliest reason I’d think of is being lonely as a child and not having many friends, and using animals, escapism, and imaginary friends to cope. I believe it had a part in causing my alterhumanity, as well as my neurodivergence and general “differentness”. I believe it also may have been caused as a way to subconsciously deal with trauma and stress. I also use escapism to cope and watch and play a lot of media, and I think it may have had a part in it, as I have a lot of fictionkintypes and fictionflickers.
I also believed I was a system for over a year, and some of my ‘alters’ stuck as kintypes, which I think could’ve been accidental copinglinks.

(2023-06-07 15:05)indoraptor Wrote:  So … perhaps I am in a minority here, but — I do not think there is any one explanation for therianthropy, just like I do not think there is any one explanation for sexuality, or gender identity, or any other such individual facet of one’s self. We experience and are influenced by so many different things, perspectives, & people throughout our lives; I find it reductive to attribute any one thing about yourself to any one other thing about your life. Reality, and personality, just doesn’t work like that.

That is not to say there’s no place for theory! There’s tons of space for theory. And I’d like to invite you all to tell me why you think you are therianthropic.

For me, I openly attribute isolation from, lack of socialization with, and trauma caused by humans from an early age to me identifying as & seeking community with other nonhumans. All of these things are related to my autism and PTSD, but I would not consider those the source of my therianthropy; rather, I consider them external factors that led me to discovering my therianthropy.

My therianthropy itself, I feel, is more psychological than spiritual, yes — but I also feel that it is innate. I can’t tell you why I feel, think, and do some of the things that I do; whether I was predisposed from birth to be this way, or if I would have been different had I been a happier child — but I’m inclined to think that, whatever it is, it was Always inside of me, inside of my brain, my heart, what many would call my ‘soul.’

My two-spirit identity also ties into this. Rather than a human male and human female spirit, I feel a vague, ambiguous animal spirit & an even vaguer and more ambiguous human spirit live inside of me.

That said — those are just my influences and self-interpretations!

What are yours?

My soul feels like one of my theriotypes, but I also believe I developed therianthropy as a young child, due to abuse and neglect. I only felt safe around my cats when I was younger, and I think that’s how it came about. Now, I feel much more spiritual, but that is subject to change.

I can't relate too much since my journey was a bit odd.

But I get the last part. The feeling that suddenly...I'm just myself. It's not this facinating, chaotic experience anymore. Just me.

I agree with everything you said! I've only been awakened since September, but I've noticed these therian feelings since I was young. I've done a LOT of reflection on how I felt... As a kid, it definitely used to bother me a lot. Bother me on how I couldn't be a animal, bother me on my shifts, ect. As I've grown, I've realized there's just no way of it ending. So I've learnt to accept it recently... And now it's integrated with who I am.

I suppose something like this should be here (if not, I'll move it), however, I think it's important for this to be put out for everyone to know.

Therianthropy is different for each person, and it is not set in a specific way. We all experience it differently, but I think we can all, or mostly, agree that therianthropy essentially punches you in the face once you realize what you are or as soon as the dreaded puberty comes around.

I only point out puberty because your hormones are all out of back and - in my own belief - I think it effects how we experience therianthropy.
(I find that this also probably contributes to the harshness of the shifts of therians who experience them pretty regularly and find out they were therians once they were around this age.)

At the beginning, though, it is hard. Very, very hard, because ypu realize that what you are isnt, well, what you are in reality. You struggle between human and animal for quite a while, but don't worry, it does get better.

Most therians who deal with this for quite a few years tend to "settle un their skin", per say. You do get the shifts, but they're more integrated into our personalities. It doesn't bother us as much as when we were younger.

This might only apply to some of us, not all of us, but that's the gist.