Defined By Joy, Not My Pain

Hey, system originals and hosts--or whatever word you'd use. And anyone else who needs to hear it.

It's ok if you want to put your headmates first, before even IRL connections you have. It's not wrong. You're not "cringe". You're not evil or selfish or "worsening your condition" by default. You share your body with your headmates. Whether you view them as parts of your'self' or not, you share a singular form you all have to coexist inside of. People outside your body shouldn't get a say as to what you do with it.

It's ok if you want to do things for them that you wouldn't otherwise do with your life. It's ok if you need to make compromises together about what path you wanna take, and change up some life plans until you can all agree or at least be okay with them. It's ok if the closest connections to anyone you have are those within your own body. It's ok to not want to be close to people unless they accept everyone in your system.

You're not anti-recovery. You're not "giving up" your body to some evil parasite. You're not "throwing your life away because of an illness". You're not bad if you "make everything about your system" because those people are a part of your life as much as any other friend or partner or coworker, you should be able to talk about them.

If you want to make decisions about your body as a collective, please do. You can live a happy and fulfilling life, connected closely with your headmates and all being happy together. It doesn't have to be a struggle 24/7. There will be good days, there will be bad. You won't always agree easily. Things can be difficult, but you aren't wrong for wanting your system to be as big of a part in your life as you yourself are.

Sysmeds: I FUCKING HATE MY HEADMATES I HATE BEING A SYSTEM GRAHHGGG

Me, plural enjoyer: *crying to my moots* Scald literally loved me so much he learned a whole Deftones song on his guitar because he knew it was my favorite

(hey singlets you can enjoy this infinite pure love too..it’s so worth it I’ve never felt so happy and complete before)

HEY EVERYONE CHECK OUT MY MASSIVE P-

-air of wings

well, we just came out to our mum as plural.

it seemed to go well, she seemed accepting of us. still very nervous of how shes going to act about all this tomorrow tho.

but honestly im really feeling exited to be able to use "we" and "us" without question and to proxy for everyone else in here openly.

it feels nice to be out.

me: "i dont know how i ever coped as a singlet"

my headmate Ashley: "poorly"

me: "ok i mean that is true but theres no need to call me out like that"

In Stars and Time fictive culture is realising that you suddenly have all the information you could ever want about stars and constellations and excitedly going outside to stargaze,

only to also discover light pollution exists now.

(its not as bad as it could be were we live but its still so blinding annoying)

-Siffrin

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Defined by joy, Not my pain

While we have moments of pain, undeniably we have struggled both now and in the past, defining ourselves by our worst moments will only lead to us struggling further instead of allowing ourselves to grow as a person. Defining our existence by pain hinders our ability to heal. I will not be defined by pain, whether my own, or others.

[Do not repost, use, or redistribute this artwork.]

Submitted Prompt #166

[character A] makes a deal with a supernatural entity, giving up their ownership over their body.

only after the deal has been made does the supernatural entity realise that [character A] is a member of a system, and as such isnt actually the sole owner of the body. leaving the supernatural entity now trapped in a body they dont fully own.

honestly, i think the best part of our plurality is the emotional bleedthrough we have. it happens more the stonger the emotions are and it feels exactly like im feeling my own emotions, but im not the source of it.

if one of us is feeling bad, like stressed, sad, anxious, whatever, well now the others know exactly how they feel and can help to comfort them so much better than they could otherwise, also its great to just feel them calm down as you help.

but its gets better, it happens with joy as well. it really is an amazing feeling just bounceing pure happiness off each other, and theres been a few times we've gotten into a bit of a feedback loop with it.

im not sure were we saw it but i remember seeing a quote along the lines of "shared pain is halved, shared joy is doubled" and thats exactly what is like.

we love being plural and wouldnt trade it for the world.

this is actually how i started questioning whether or not im plural,

got what i thought where intrusive thoughts so i just internally yelled "oh shut up", and they yelled back and now here we are.

Questioning median culture is realising I've possibly been telling another facet to shut up for years just thinking they were anxiety thoughts and feeling bad about it?

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