Hi there ๐พ
Just realized I have never written an introduction here. I don't see a character limit, so bear with me ^^" TL;DR I'm a fox.
I used to be a rather ordinary IT person for the most of my life, until 1.5 years ago I left my home country, for the foreseeable future. The sudden and radical change of the environment, financial and legal status, the stress, uncertainty, and mental health challenges -- all that made me change, too... so, I became a furry.
In hindsight, that was a right thing to do, for it had brought me closer to my authentic self. For the first time in my life, I asked myself what I wanted to be, instead of following the common patterns of the society, or the vision of those close to me.
The more I asked, the more I discovered. I'm not a cisgender person (and what cis- means after all), someone who can find anyone attractive, and also a bit of a bottom.
When I commissioned a reference sheet for my fursona, I didn't see the depiction of a character, but rather a portrait of myself. On the day of my 32nd birthday, I let everyone on Twitter know that I'm actually a fox, and called myself a therian ever since.
Plurality, TW final integration
This year, on February 27th, I discovered and got to experience plurality hands-on. It's been quite a journey, with five best friends at maximum. We figured out who we are and where we'd like to go, pushed through clinical depression together, have done art and silly tech things.
Recently, we decided to merge back into one person, gave ourselves a new name, River, and started calling ourselves "I am". The integration went surprisingly well, and I'm glad we haven't lost anyone in the process. ย
Labels time! Now, I'm a non-binary pansexual aromantic fox therian, a Russian immigrant, and a husband. A software engineer by trade, I'm trying to expand from Vue.js frontend to full-stack PHP work. I enjoy film photography, though it's way more expensive in Canada than anywhere else I lived, and collect old records (thank the Universe for thrift stores), and I also draw stuff as a hobby. Productivity, minimalism, and Bullet Journal technique are surefire topics to get me started.
But after all, I'm just a silly bean on the Internet, who's happy to be around other beautiful critters, uwu.
Image description
Double portrait of a soft blue and white fuzzy anthro fox with green eyes, darker head fur, and yellow ear fluff -- and a human with black hair, wearing eyeglasses and a green shirt with an arctic fox print. Both crossed their arms, and are standing shoulder to shoulder. Artwork by FRAE.
Welcome to Lemmy. It's honorable that you found yourself and never looked back to what societal pressures want you to be. Foxes are adorable. What made you gravitate toward them? Also, what is a Bullet Journal?
Thank you =^.^=
[https://bulletjournal.com/](Bullet Journal) is an approach to organizing and managing one's life by Ryder Carroll. While it can be done with any supplies, the most recognizable symbol are the dot-grid hardcover journals.
Foxes? One day, I believed my sister was a fox, and therefore I am, too. That felt just right, so I had rebuilt my identity with this idea in the core. I never got to see her, but here's a drawing ๐ฆ
So... a diary with extra steps?
And why didn't you get to see your sister?
The key difference is that you're supposed to write less (so-called rapid logging technique) but keep the most important and meaningful things. In a way, it's also a mindfulness tool.
She died shortly after birth, and I was about a year old.
I see. It's like the Twitter of journaling.
@river The closest that I have is a One Question A Day journal that I got on Amazon. Each page asks a different question and it spans over five years, so you get a small space to answer each question.
Oh, I have a similar one, from a local book store about two months ago, and... it has considerable gaps already ^^"
It takes a lot of commitment.