Awakening as kin

Awakening as Fictionkin

How does someone learn they are fictionkin, and come to understand their identity as such? This process is called ‘Awakening’, and it is the period of discovery that every kin goes through to find themselves. It is the time between the first inkling that one may be kin, to the time that one truly accepts and understands their identity. The length of Awakening varies from Kin to Kin, often it takes a great deal of time, but sometimes it can be shorter.

Awakening technically begins the moment that a person starts to question if there is something different between them, and the other people around them; the moment that they start to assign meaning to the feelings and experiences they’ve had outside the norm. The homesickness, the strange visions, the pain…

Awakening can be said to truly be happening when a person has begun to deliberately search for the source of their difference, to find their identity. This is the time for research, in books, and movies, the internet, and word of mouth. It is the time of deep internal searching and meditation on the true center of one’s being.

It is during this time that a searcher generally first comes into contact with the terms Fictionkin and otherkin, and other terms in similar spheres. Sometimes there is an immediate sense of recognition and connection  when an awakening kin finds these terms,but sometimes it is a more confusing process. A kin in the middle of awakening may bounce back and forth between terms and labels for a while before deciding what fits best. This is especially true if the kin has not encountered their source fiction yet, or has multiple sources they believe fits.

In a sense, Awakening never truly ends, because we are forever learning and growing to a deeper understanding of ourselves as people and as kin. However, one’s awakening can be said to be mostly done with after one has become comfortable with understanding and referring to oneself as kin, and understand the context of their memories, desires and pains. Awakening ends when you truly accept and understand your identity as fictionkin.