Okay I’ve decided to rewrite this, I’ve calmed down a bit and realized my original (deleted) post was a little all over the place and I didn’t explain myself very well.

I’m here because I want to know what exactly would make someone a therian. I really want to see what others felt about their discovery and experience and see if I can find any similarities with what I’m feeling. I’ve been really questioning if I’m possibly a therian or even otherkin. My experience most of my life is summed up to basically not feeling entirely human. I know I’m human but I don’t feel like it properly describes me. When I envision myself I don’t think of myself as entirely a human being, there’s something else there that’s calling to me but I don’t know what it is. And when I think about it more and try to reflect on it that feeling gets stronger.

I think why I’m so hesitant on it all is because I’ve heard some people say that shifting is huge part of the therian experience while others say shifting isn’t required so I’m a bit confused. Personally I don’t think I experience shifting or if I do it’s so faint that I don’t notice it. What I do know is that since I was very young I always wished that I had certain features on my body like a tail or fur or a snout, etc. Sometimes when I envision myself my mind automatically adds those features onto myself without me wanting it to. I remember going to sleep when I was young and hoping that I would miraculously wake up as an animal or dragon or whatever creature I felt like I had a connection to. Even now I think about being my possible theriotypes more often than what I assume the average person would consider normal (I say possible theriotypes since I don’t know if I’m actually a therian yet).

Lately I’ve been reflecting on all the weird little behaviors that I’ve always done without really paying them much mind. Some things that I’ve noticed and have thought about lately is my tendency to freeze and assess whether or not I'm in danger, and the random urges to give people playful jabs or stare people down (kinda like a cat). I also occasionally try to lick my canines when I remember about them and end up wishing they were bigger or feel like they should be bigger. Another big one that I have really noticed is that I often walk around on the balls of feet rather than letting my heel touch the ground. I don’t do this on purpose and occasionally only notice when family members point it out, I never have an answer for them either. I don't know why I do this but sometimes when I’m alone in my room and I pace around walking like that. It feels kinda nice. (These are just the things I’ve noticed, I’m genuinely not sure if there’s anything else I’ve done that could indicate therianthropy.)

I honestly don’t really know what my theriotypes would be if I was a therian (though I have a good idea). I just really want to know what being a therian is like for you guys and how you all figured it out. I feel like I’m so close to discovering something about myself but it’s just out of reach. Like sometimes within furry circles I’ll introduce myself as “the silly bat creature who draws”. It started off as a joke originally because of how common it is for furries to say that they’re their fursona’s species but the first time I did it I realized that it felt oddly correct? Like “yea I am a bat” kind of thing. And that feeling has led me here to question if that feeling might be something bigger…

I’m positive that I’m not entirely human whether it be psychological or spiritual I’m not sure but I know for a fact that something is off. And I have a feeling that it’s more than one theriotype, the bat theriotype is the one I’ve been questioning lately and it does feel familiar and like “me” but I don’t think it fully encompasses my entire non-human side. What are your guys' thoughts?