My behaviors and mentality.
There's something in my brain that clicks when I'm referred to/treated like a dog
I have a strong connection with nature, and LOVE scavenging like a coyote
I get overly territorial over people/things I love
There is nothing more comforting to me than being pet during cuddles

being human just doesn't feel right

(2024-10-22 20:46)Observant Demon Wrote:  

(2024-10-22 18:21)Honeymala Wrote:  (Rewriting this because my perspective has slightly changed)
Honestly, I don’t think there’s been a single moment in my life where I’ve felt connected to the human race.

This is pretty much how I felt and feel now. While I was very much attached to my parents I never felt a connection to others in the mere sense that they were human. I live in a human society but I never felt really like I was truly one of them. This may explain why I never really had any friends nor any desire to go out and make friends; I just couldn't tune in with the general mode of thinking.

Exactlyyyyy! All my life, I’ve always felt like an outsider looking in, like someone spectating the human race instead of being a part of them. I also was always happy just being friends with my toys instead of people. You explained this feeling so well!

I just realized I've never responded to this thread! Oops! Well, here we go.

Cat:

My therianthropy is deeply both psychologically and spiritually rooted. I'll start with spiritual, since that came first.
I believe in a past life, I was a cat. There's no reason to put the few unconfirmed details about that life that I know. What's most important was that my soul or consciousness originally was within the body of a cat. I died somehow in a way I don't remember, was reincarnated, then died, and was reincarnated once more as a human.
That was the spiritual bit, but here's the psychological part. Through slight neglect from my parents, a childhood cat who raised me, and lots and lots of exposure to wildlife as a very small child, I believe I retained my cat identity, instincts and behaviors. I'm guessing these would have faded throughout time if I had had a normal human childhood, however because of the specific events that happened I kept that part of my myself from back then. I'd also like to add that animalistic behaviors, games and expressions of creativity were very much encouraged in my house. My mother is both an artist and a teacher; she wanted us to be creative and express who we were, even if it meant drawing or painting animals everywhere and pretending to be them. I don't think my cat theriotype could exist without the existence of both my past life and childhood experiences.

Coyote:

We'll start with the spiritual bit on this one too. I was a coyote in my past life (I think) after I was a cat. Again, no miniscule memories and details about this one either. But I was reincarnated as a human after this life.
I don't think I would have retained this part of my identity either if I didn't grow up with the sister I had. My older sister had one of those "wolf phases" from the time she could talk/walk in any meaningful way to when she was 12 or so years old. Because she wanted to play wolves every day, I was able to continue to express my canine behaviors through the games we would play. I have some drawings from when we were younger, and I notice that my wolf was always light brown and gray, following the color scheme of coyotes.
Again, I doubt I would be a coyote therian if it weren't for both my spiritual and psychological development that involved them.

Other:

I'd like to include that I have a theriotype that I have absolutely no idea where it comes from. Just as an example that, while there are perfectly reasonable explanations for some theriotypes, there are others that just don't make any sense.
The theriotype in question I believe is an otter or another type of semiaquatic mustelidae. Behaviors I experience from it include aquatic, burrowing, fishing, clamming, and other basic otter behaviors. I can't even begin to understand this potential theriotype. It's also a way, way, way less dominant one, I rarely notice it usually unless I'm around/in water or in a place where I can burrow.


Maybe later I'll add more to this with a kintype I'm questioning and my kithtype.... We'll see what I have the motivation for though haha. Cool thread idea, this was fun to write!

(2024-10-22 18:21)Honeymala Wrote:  (Rewriting this because my perspective has slightly changed)
Honestly, I don’t think there’s been a single moment in my life where I’ve felt connected to the human race.

This is pretty much how I felt and feel now. While I was very much attached to my parents I never felt a connection to others in the mere sense that they were human. I live in a human society but I never felt really like I was truly one of them. This may explain why I never really had any friends nor any desire to go out and make friends; I just couldn't tune in with the general mode of thinking.

However in answer to the question which I posted in previously, I don't want to 'believe' that I am therian..for the time being I can only observe how I feel and perceive and for the time being my observations lead me to think that I am therian; this could, of course, change at some point though now that I am older and more mature mentally and psychologically I doubt that this will change.

(Rewriting this because my perspective has slightly changed)

Honestly, I don’t think there’s been a single moment in my life where I’ve felt connected to the human race.

As a cub, I never felt this connection at all. I barely felt connected to my family, watching cartoons with humans in them felt odd, and no matter what, I just couldn’t make friends with humans. I remember at family parties, I would even prefer to be in the room with the dogs in them instead of playing with my cousins. Being alone or being with animals was always my preference, I was always happiest at those times...not to mention how much I loved the outdoors and loved looking at nature even when I was a silly cub.

And then...ever since my day of awakening, the fateful day that a vision of my true self appeared in my mind...it all suddenly made sense.

Why I never got along with humans, why I was always so content with being alone, why I felt so deeply affected by nature compared to others, why I started feeling too stupid to understand subjects in school, why I never felt attraction to many human beings, why I never understood a lot of their culture, why my brain feels so different from everyone else’s, why I felt more at home in the midst of nature than in my own home surrounded by family.

Because I was never human in the first place.

And ever since coming to this conclusion...everything just suddenly feels right. So, now I’m playing catch-up. Letting myself live as my true self for as long as I live to make up for 20 years of living “human”

I believe I'm a therian for several reasons.

As long as I can remember, cats have been my "favorite animal". My family used to say I was obsessed with them. I remember this one memory of when I was very young, and we had these colored balloons with stickers. My favorite color at the time was pink, but that sticker was a pig. I always went with the light blue cat one. Every time.

When I was a bit older, or maybe even way back then, I used to say to my parents "I am a cat." This is long before I discovered therianthropy. I used to crawl around on the floor, meow (oh how I meowed) and generally act like a cat.

When I finally learned of therianthropy and TG, I knew immediately: this is me. This is who I am, this explains why I'm so strange, why I don't fit in.

I don't know. I was just born a human with a piece of animal in my body. I'd say that over time, the animal part was sculpted into a wolf form. But ever since I was a little girl, I've had a little dog in me. I had a tendency to growl when I was a kid, and I acted much more like an animal in general. Ever since I could walk, my mother says my favorite place to be was in the woods. I've been called a woodswoman by my friends. As I've gotten older, it's only become more apparent. I'm more intergrated with my wolf. Other people can tell, I have a different energy. Sometimes I just go to school and feel like I don't belong. It's like I'm completely different and I just fit in. I'm most excited about being alone in the woods, exploring all kinds of things or just sitting and enjoying the atmosphere. Also, needless to say, I have animal behavior and instincts and occasionally I have a shift.

well I can't really explain why, it just happens over a course of time for me in some case. I was never like into playing as a animal as a kid but overtime in secret I would be one mentally, Im sociable or not shy at all but in middle school and elementary school I was very quite. Now right now I don't have any proof it just fits.

I know I was born this way because even before I could really form any solid memories, my parents have home videos of me acting in animalistic ways and vocalizing. Now the point you raised about dialing down a specific theriotype is interesting and did get me thinking.

As a young pup, I wasn't super specific about identifying a specific animal. I was more generalized, though I often did gravitate towards wolf more than other animals except when reading a series like Warriors. Later on, after letting the animal part of me back into my life, I quickly identified as a wolf and nothing more (though went through a brief phase of questioning a second cat theriotype, but I was reading Warriors again). I really didn't conduct any sort of research because as an animal fanatic I already had sufficient knowledge to determine with certainty that I was a wolf, and I think the traits, urges, instincts, and what not are pretty easy to connect to wolves specifically, and it's the only thing that feels right. Looking back on it, wolf is the only thing that has ever felt right, or real. While I enjoyed acting as any type of animal as a pup, being a wolf has always had a deeper sort of feeling or meaning.

(2024-10-19 13:07)Lupus Ferox Wrote:  I thought yes, why can't it be shaped when I stumbled upon your post, although it's possibly more complicated than that. For instance, I knew I was canine for sure and therefore sought after animals under that same hood. While other animals (under that branche) had indeed crossed my mind before then, it wasn't until the wolf was introduced the idea that that should be me was the strongest. And that idea kind of lingered on since then. I'm not saying I changed theriotypes like underpants back at the very start, but switching between types can be meaningful sometimes in order to get to know yourself from all possible angles. (I had four possible theriotypes at the start, for your information!) I think it's okay to do proper research and to try out multiple types to see what gets closest to your skin. See what fits and what slides off of you... like the rain on a duck.
I'm just saying that you're born with a therian identity, but what you are, is likely to get clearer to you through experience and the life wisdom you'll gain through interaction with your world, the people in it and of course by putting your mind to the test. Is this too far-fetched?

It is not, no. I definitely agree with what you have to say here!