So. I mean, wow, where to begin. Well, I’m honestly not sure if this is the appropriate place to post this, but I need some advice. Not art advice because it would be totally wasted on me. I am not an artist by any means. The type of advice that I need is kind of a lot more complicated than art advice. I’m sort of new to this whole community and you may notice that this is my first post on this site. I made this account over two years ago but never really used it until now. That being said, I started looking at furry stuff maybe a couple of years before I made this account and man, was I fascinated by it, and I really still am to some extent. Since then, I’ve grown to be a huge fan of furry art and of course, porn. Even now, it still feels so weird to be talking about this in a public space, even if I am doing it anonymously. The thing that still amazes me about the furry community is the sense of pride and the fact that most of the people I’ve seen commenting on art and stuff really just seem so nice and supportive. Now I know that this community has some assholes that really are just jerks for the sake of being jerks, but unlike some other communities out there, the good I’ve seen massively outweighs the bad. Good god, I’m over 1000 characters in and I haven’t even said what I needed advice on. Sorry for the whole speech but I think context is important to fully understand what I need help with in this case. I love the furry community and I think I genuinely want to be more of a vocal part of it. That, though, is really hard for me to do. Mostly because I have been an introvert for as long as I remember and some things have gone really wrong in my life, which has led me to the point where I really have no actual friends. My family, especially my mom, has been my best friend for the past two or three years now. But this is a problem that I can’t talk to even my mom about, because she doesn’t even know that I like furry stuff. I mean, she probably doesn’t even know what a furry is, and I really don’t want to have to explain all this to her. Not yet, at least. This is an issue that I think only furries can really fully understand and help me with. So, the whole problem that I have is sort of an identity crisis you could say. I love furry porn, but I’m really not sure if I’m a furry? I don’t have a fursona at all and I don’t even know where I would start with that, because it’s kind of hard to make an alternate version of yourself when your self image is kind of bad like mine is, but I digress. Also, I don’t see the appeal of the whole fur suit thing. Now, I really really don’t want to offend anyone, because you guys are all I’ve got right now. I can understand why people like dressing up in fur suits. I think that’s awesome if you’re into it, but I, unfortunately am not really into it. Now here’s the big question I’m grappling with right now: Am I a furry? Honestly, I think I might like to be? But then I just go into this whole big train of thought that I can’t stop where I just worry about every little thing and end up going back to being an introvert and talking to no one but my family. This time, I think I’m ready, though. I have to get out there and be someone. I need to accept myself. Really I think I might like a fursona, but that is kind of difficult to not only think about what kind of animal I would be but also to actually draw it and see it. Like I said before, I am not an artist. I really appreciate art and love all the work furry artists do, but I’m not even good at drawing stick figures and I also don’t really enjoy making art myself. It’s just not my thing. Which makes me wonder where the hell im going to get a fursona. I mean I know that every furry isn’t required to have a fursona, but like I said, I think I want one. Now, I’m not here to beg for someone to draw me a fursona. That’s not my intention, I don’t want to ask for something that big. I’m just asking that you please give me your thoughts in the comments, whether they be positive or negative, I really just want any sort of feedback to help make sense of all this. I’m kind of getting off track, which I have a tendency to do. Back to my story. So, this whole crazy identity thing started literally just a couple days ago. In my time in the furry community I’ve always been content to be the silent observer, but now I feel like I want more. The thing that started this was a video. A single video that I found while browsing the website knowyourmeme made me start thinking. The video I’m talking about is something I’m sure a lot of you have seen. This is going to sound really, extremely stupid, but it was a video by Whygena_draws. The “Hi my name is Reggie” video. I have no clue why this particular video triggered such a large change in me. It could have been that seeing someone so comfortable with themselves that they are able to just tell people who they are without being embarrassed or scared. I’m not even gay, well, at least I don’t think I am, and that video of a male mouse in women’s clothing talking about how much he loves guys just struck a chord with me. I probably sound like the dumbest person on Earth right now, and I’m even dumber for posting something like this, but I have to. Anyway, there’s a bit more to this wall of text, so please stick with me, and thank you for even reading this far in! Yesterday, I saw a news article from Kotaku about a furry who is a four time champion at the fighting game tournament, Evo. I am of course, talking about SonicFox who I didn’t even know existed until yesterday. I didn’t read the whole article, but just the idea of someone who wore a fur suit to fighting game tournaments and still kicked ass is amazing. Those are just two things that inspired me to write this post, I’m absolutely positive that there are so many more amazing people in this community who do things that are just as amazing to me. Even putting your art out there is amazing to me, I can’t even imagine creating something and then being confident enough to give it to people and having them love it. I’m getting off track again, and this post is running really long so I’ll get to the point. I want to be a part of the community, but I have no idea where to even start. It’s not like I can make things that people enjoy, I’m just a spectator. But I would at least like to be a more vocal spectator. Someone who is part of something amazing. Someone who may one day be able to be who they want to be without worrying about what others think. It’ll be a long road for sure, but I know I’m not going it alone. There are so many others going through similar, and even worse situations. If you see someone who needs help please don’t just look away. I’m lucky enough to have a family to support me, and role models to inspire me to ask for help. Others may not ask, but need help all the same. I only hope that this post reaches someone like me, and gives them some solace that there are others like them. Yeah this post went really off the rails, so let me just summarize the point I was trying to make and ask once again for feedback. This is just a request for all feedback and advice on how to be yourself and accept who you are. Also feel free to tell me your stories about how you started to realize that the furry community was something you wanted to be a part of. Only if you’re comfortable telling the story, of course. God, this post sounds so stupid as I read it now. Well, I’m posting it anyway because what could possibly go wrong, you know? A huge thank you to anyone who read the entire thing! And thank you to everyone who posts in the comments, I’ll make sure to read them all and maybe start commenting on some of my favorite artists’ stuff.
