we-are-underwater

[we-are-underwater]

Hey uh, not sure if there's anything to elaborate on wrt the "wanting to be plural is a symptom of being plural" post, but is that true? Because I've been avoiding that possibility, if only because I've been so sure that it isn't a possibility. I don't really know what I'm saying here it's just, could that post really be true?

So we thought we were the only ones selling this kind of perspective to people, but recently pluralrespect on neocities (which we already liked re: intrasys relationships) started including something similar, but with more structure.

It breaks down like this: Singlets choose to interpret their personal experiences as being one person. It gets privileged as the default because that's how we're socialised, but a (usually unconscious) choice is being made to view all their experiences - including kinda plural-coded stuff like code switching, masking, genderfluidity, weird dreams, varying vibes day-on-day, internal conflict, etc - as representing a singular identity.

There are also a lot of people who's experiences can't realistically be interpreted singletwise - folks that experience switches with totally separate memory is an extreme example. The plural explanation is the only thing that makes any sense of it at all.

This creates this big grey area that encompasses all those interpreted-singlets with kinda-plural experiences, and those interpreted-plurals who could reasonably interpret themselves as singlets (again) if they wanted to. Within this grey area, you have the wiggle room to observe your personal experiences, and conceptualise your identity one way, or the other way.

One of those ways might feel more "right" to you, more sensical, more comfortable, safer - so in that sense, yeah. wanting to be plural is a symptom of being plural. Fantasising about what it would be like to understand yourself in the other way is probably a sign that you should try it - see how thinking of yourself that way feels, just for a day or whatever. If it's too weird, go back. If not, keep going.

Now, letting yourself have an open mind may invite experiences that make a singlet interpretation less sensible - so only test the waters if both possible conclusions are safe for you to have. Outside of that, you can always change your mind - so, give it a shot.

[we-are-underwater]

shoutout people who feel too plural for singlets and too singlet for plurals. it can suck to be out of place, i get it.

shoutout people who use "personalities", "emotions", "identities", "parts", or similar, i do this too. none of us are really sentient enough to use anything else.

shoutout systems and such who are too blurry to tell who they are. this is what we are like. we almost never have a sense of identity, and even when we do, it's extremely vague. we can't notice switches and we don't feel any different from anyone else.

...and more i haven't mentioned.

[we-are-underwater]

let's hear it for systems with OCD!

OCD can be very troubling and debilitating. it can convince us of things that aren't true and make us question our own judgment, character, and reality.

whether your OCD is mainly about yourself or about the world around you, we want you to know you're heard, seen, and loved today!

whether your OCD is more collective or if it's confined to symptom holders, it's valid and you deserve support!

whether your OCD makes you feel scared, angry, upset, agitated, frustrated, exhausted, or any number of other emotions, you are still a lovely person!

thought crimes are not real! this is a reminder that you ARE doing good enough and you ARE worthy of love!

[we-are-underwater]

Shop , Patreon , Books and Cards , Mailing List

[we-are-underwater]

I think a weirdly forgotten side of the plural community is the portion that are plural but aren't able to fit the description of a system or collective or whatever for whatever reason. For example, with us, we're median and super singlet leaning. we don't fit a system because technically there's no real "system" to be had. It's a bunch of fluctuating identities, but they don't really exist on their own. So uh... hi fellow non system plurals, wassup??

[we-are-underwater]

I don't talk much about my own plurality in relation to this game (mainly cause it still feels like a pretty new discovery for us. just last year, we were 100% sure we were a singlet despite relating to systems before), but I see a lot of talk about Long Quiet's systemhood (which is awesome and I'm glad it exists), but not too much about Shifty's, which is the one we relate to the most.

She's composed of many individual pieces, but she's also a Whole composed of those pieces. You cannot meaningfully separate the individual parts from the whole, but you also can't deny their individuality.

She's very median system to me, and has really helped me understand ourselves a lot better now that we know we're a system.

[we-are-underwater]

I think a weirdly forgotten side of the plural community is the portion that are plural but aren't able to fit the description of a system or collective or whatever for whatever reason. For example, with us, we're median and super singlet leaning. we don't fit a system because technically there's no real "system" to be had. It's a bunch of fluctuating identities, but they don't really exist on their own. So uh... hi fellow non system plurals, wassup??

[we-are-underwater]

my current thought is that if we haven't come to a neat conclusion after 2 years of questioning, and we've been repeatedly pulled back into plural spaces after taking breaks from it, maybe it's time to just embrace seeing ourself as plural and look at ourself through that lense?

but then, i don't know. maybe it's fine to just keep existing in this awkward answerless state... augh

i don't know. it would be nice to settle this once and for all, and move forward accordingly.

but maybe i've been trying too hard to label whatever we are.

[we-are-underwater]

Internal Dialogue

For class, by me.

[we-are-underwater]

system protip: if trying to keep track of your switches and fragments feels impossible and is driving you crazy, stop doing it. or at the very least dont put as much weight into making it perfect. you dont need to track every switch, you dont need every fragment logged. sometimes its easier to just exist as a system than drive yourself up the wall trying to micromanage everything about your system

[we-are-underwater]

I’m plural! Im a median/faceted/non-amnesic/whatever system! It took so long for us to get here and we are trying to be chill and not make it A Whole Thing or accidentally start, like, larping and so we’ve hardly told anyone at all but I want to yell and howl about it all the time. My parts are so cool. Everything makes sense now. Im not fighting with myself all the time. I’m plural and we’re in this together!!!

fuck yeah!!!

[we-are-underwater]

I’m not a system/plural, but I took the advice of looking at myself in a plural lens and it’s astonishing how much more ok I was with being kind to myself, when I approached some aspects of my mind the way I would treat someone else. Just simplest things like telling myself how well I’m doing or that I deserve to rest filled me with a warm and intimate feeling that I don’t often get and I don’t feel the need to criticize myself all the time now. 10/10 highly recommend

That’s awesome!! Yeah definitely, if this new outlook just helps you see how to be kinder to yourself, that’s still useful!

[we-are-underwater]

pretty sure im plural

[we-are-underwater]

For my final project in my film photography class this past semester, I made plural family photos! Each member of the system who wanted to be photographed had their picture taken, then I scanned and combined the film negatives to bring system members together in a way you can't do physically!

Here's what the negatives looked like for one of them

It was very sweet to see how touched the systems I worked with were by the results. It felt good to give back to my community in that way ❤️

You can find more of my work on my portfolio website!

[we-are-underwater]

i feel like i keep going back and forth between "I should take my time to explore whether i am plural / want to describe myself as plural, how it might work for me, what that means for me, and what I want. there's no need to rush. self discovery and understanding takes time, I can figure this all out at my own pace ^^"

and "why is this taking so long?? how do i get to the bottom of this. i need to understand every part of myself, my brain, and my identity right now immediately and i will scroll all the tags and read every resource i can find until i find the perfect objective answer waiting for me!!!" (with a side of "oops it's 2 AM again and i'm Anxious)

and that's usually followed by "well who cares let's ignore all that existing as one person has worked out fine so far so why does it even matter. there's other things to worry about i can't spend all my time in my head like this"

[we-are-underwater]

I’ll be honest I haven’t been keeping count of how many times looking into whether im pluralhas been suggested to me, it’s probably at least in double digits by now. But a lot of those were in the notes of shitposts and frankly I don’t have time for that right now anyway so I think I’m just gonna keep ignoring it 👍

[we-are-underwater]

i decided to look through the "Multiplicity/Plurality" tag on AO3, there's 1,602 fics in there! I went back to look at the oldest listed and it's from 2011. anyways i just think that's cool, and i might need to go and read a bunch of fics outside my fandoms now ^^