#complex singlet

[its-plural-singlet-time-baby]

I’m a singlet but I don’t feel like one. I feel like a part instead of “one whole person”. I feel comfortable with referring to myself with terms like part and protector but feel guilt about it. I also have been considering labeling myself as a syslet but I feel that would be wrong of me to do. anyways thought this might be a space that would be more open to the idea of someone like me.

A few ideas for you:

Maybe you are a system but don't know other parts of you exist. Maybe try writing things down or asking people around you.

Before finding out the terms that fit me/us, I/we just used a description of what was happening if I/we had to define it or if anybody asked. It's totally ok to just say 'I'm proud to be whatever this is!'

In addition, It was hard for me/us to start too. Because of all the fake claiming and people saying 'there are REAL people who are XYZ'. But when you understand that literally anything can happen and your experiences are valid, you might find what you're looking for. Whether that be a label or security in yourself.

The points that I started at were 'What label(s) am I looking at?' and 'what are my experiences?' Asking around and going to community is a great way to start so good on you 👏❤️

My/our last suggestion is pluralpedia and Pinterest. They have a lot of everything on there and you'll learn about something new no matter what

Sorry this took so long, had stuff happening 😅

[its-plural-singlet-time-baby]

My blog is a plurallet (and co.) safe space 😊 pro endo, mixed origins, and created sys/plurals 👍

Do you boost other plural blogs? (I have one that isn't getting much traction)

Absolutely, as long as you're part of the inclusive plural community, I'm happy to boost other blogs!

[thecircularsystem]

I hope you don't mind us asking, but you've expressed opinions about both the differences and similarities so..just for the sake of maybe seeing the two sides together I'd like to ask what are some things that you believe systems and singlets have in common and what experiences are exclusive to one groups or another!

I know that's a tough question and it doesn't need to be exhaustive, but your recent post mentioning how being a system affects your gender in ways it doesn't for singlets, I remembered you've made points before about how singlets and systems are actually not too different. I'm just curious! -⏳

Gladly <3

The thing is... I didn't want to get into this with the user I was discussing with, because I know this take is controversial, but I still think singlets can experience gender in the same way I do.

For instance: let's say at age 21, a woman realizes she's actually a man. He transitions fully, lives as a man publicly and socially, and identifies as a trans man. Then, at age 40, he experiences a severe traumatic brain injury, leading to complete retrograde amnesia. He wakes up in the hospital with no memory of who he is. He's the same person, but as far as he's concerned, this is his first day existing. He now identifies as a cis man.

He realizes soon after this event that she feels like a woman, and she transitions to being female, publicly, socially, and identifies as a trans woman.

Here's my question: How is this different than certain systems? Until age 19, all of my parts believed themselves to be women, with one nonhuman part who had no personality at all who didn't have a gender/pronouns. Then, at age 21, we started realizing in pieces that some of us were different genders. Individually, each of us had to start figuring out our gender -- same as the hypothetical singlet.

The ONLY difference there is that my gender fuckery influences my collective gender as well as individual genders. A singlet doesn't necessarily have individual AND collective genders, as they are one individual. And even then, a singlet who's more parts-based (such as an IFS patient) may personify those parts as having various genders, so that's not even a hard-line between system and singlet.

I think, genuinely, there is no unique system experience that a singlet cannot also experience. I just think that it's more common for systems to experience gender in a somewhat different way (namely, collectively and individually, instead of just one of those things).

It does make me curious about what people believe to be a purely system-based experience, though -- something singlets cannot experience, or at the very least relate heavily to.

[lavender-town-radio]

baby me who had a crush on a boy getting called a dyke for being a tomboy while being transmasc without knowing what transmasc was really is a experience huh

[antlerkitty]

Why do I always take so long to find my true identity?

*Remembers I’m a bigender shapeshifter and part of a system of 7 with multiple queer alters*

[fenmere]

So, a while back, we calculated how often on average our psyche creates a new system member.

We have three census results, and we've witnessed member births often enough to know how it happens and what triggers it. And we've verified the rate is at least logistically possible with hands on experimentation and documentation.

It's about one every six and a half minutes.

Now. It happens whenever we glance at a person we don't recognize, or encounter a new fictional character, or anthropomorphize anything sufficiently enough that it might need an identity schema in our brain to keep track of it. That identity schema gets a consciousness immediately, and a stream of memories starts up, and boom, new member.

It's honestly probably not that much more neural activity than any other human-like brain experiences, just what's different is how we organize ourselves and who gets to front if they want to (EVERYONE).

Anyway. It occurred to us that it would be funny to carry around a little electronic device that makes a tiny little "ding!" at about the correct rate that new members of the Inmara are created.

Ideally, it would use a scanner and eye tracking to actually estimate when we're likely to be creating a new member and ding at that time. But, even if that sort of technology were available now, we don't want to wear it anywhere. It would be invasive and a liability.

Instead, it'd probably be an app on our phone that just sort of randomizes the dings so that over the course of a day it comes out to an average of one every six and a half minutes.

It'd be annoying. But we'd really only wear it to cons or interviews or things like that, as a conversation piece.

Anyway, it's way more fun to imagine being annoying with it than actually having it. So, there it is.

[its-plural-singlet-time-baby]

I'm sad I can't hug myselves. I think we all need it. Make sure to hug yourselves today 🫂

[anomalymon]

"nobody is denying that an innerworld is not a real place" we are 👋

Like gateway systems, which are systems who feel like their headspace is an existing world, aren't that uncommon. Hell that's what we've identified as since like 2016.

We view our headspace as a real place metaphysically. It might not have the same properties as the physical world and it's a complex thing, but yeah we would consider it to be a real place overall and more a dimension we inhabit.

This isn't even a system-specific belief. There are singlets who might have inner worlds that they consider real, see astral travel/astral spaces. We've met plenty of maladaptive daydreamers too who feel their paracosms are real.

Also once again, comorbidity with psychosis and sanism aside, boy howdy you guys have to stop telling people things aren't real when dealing with dissociative disorders

[multiselves]

Coining Post!! 🔗👥 Multiself / Multiselves !!

Definition ::

Multiself is an umbrella term for any singlet/singlet adjacent being that experiences multiple identities/selves. The term also applies to individual sysmates that share the experience, provided the sysmate/s in question identify as multiself independently from the rest of the collective.

Mulitself beings may or may not "switch" between selves, though multiself is explicitly separate from the plurality spectrum and does not describe multiple consciousnesses/distinct people. However it's important to note that SOME parasian/plurallet experiences may fall under the multiself umbrella

• You can identify as both transplural/transmedian and multiself at the same time, in the same way that you can identify as a both a boy and a girl at the same time. Trans identity is very complex, and often paradoxical in nature

• Generally switches are amnesia free and voluntary, but this is definitely more of a guideline than a hard and fast rule. (I myself have light amnesia, and experience "switches" more as kinshifts rather than a conscious choice.)

• Multiself is inherently tied to transid, in the sense that selves have their own distinct sets of transids. Though notably, the amount in which the selves differentiate depends on the individual. On one end of the spectrum, one's selves may be extremely different in name, appearance, age, race, gender etc. On the other end of the spectrum, one's selves may be entirely identical except for each selves trans/trispersonality ids

Language ::

(Note: this is general language for the umbrella term, and may not be applicable to more specific labels that fall underneath it)

Shift (verb): The experience of changing selves

"I'm shifting into Mallory"

Form (verb): The experience of forming new selves

"I formed Riley yesterday"

Mindset (noun): The term used to describe which self you currently identify as

"I'm in Monty and Jamie's mindset right now"

Primary self (noun): The self you most commonly identify as

"I'm in Darce's mindset most often, they're my primary self"

Selves are not separate consciousnesses, though we/us language is also acceptable if you feel more comfortable using it. If you wish to refer to all your selves at once, but want to avoid being mistaken for a system, you could simply say "my selves", or "my cluster"

Flag colours ::

Those that choose to have multiselves: dark pink

Those that do not choose to have multiselves: light pink

Those that experience their selves as being "alter egos" for the main self: grey

Those that are at their core consciousness, experiencing selves that are all equally them: white

Those that have fluid selves, in any sense: lilac

Those that have static selves: light blue

Distinction from plurality: dark blue

Why was this coined?

This label was a reaction to segreID. At first glance the two terms seem very similar, but there are some key differences such as my far laxer approach to including those that identify with some form of plurality. This label is not meant to act as a recoin, nor is it meant to "out-inclusive" the segreID coiner, vampi-rq.

I wanted to create a less specific term that would include me, and anyone else that shared the majority of my experiences

While there is conflict between me and vampi-rq, I still have a lot of appreciation and respect their term and how it was intended to be used. The multiself label is personal to me, and it was born out of respect for the segreID definition rather than in spite of it. SegreID exists to describe a much more specific experience, and it's one that simply doesn't apply to me, which I'm fine with

All thumbs are fingers, but not all fingers are thumbs

While by definition segreID does happen to fall under the multiself umbrella, that does not mean that 100% of the things described here apply to it. Vampi-rq has been explicit about what is and is not segreID. I encourage you to do your research and pick the appropriate label for what you're experiencing. The multiself label is intentionally very vague and nonspecific

[noctiscollective]

“fake disorder cringe” has us losing our mind so we're going to just say a few things:

systems can have alters younger (and older) than their bodily age.

systems can have nonhuman alters and introjects from controversial or modern-day medias.

systems can have alters that aren't the same gender as the body or use different labels.

systems can have high alter counts.

systems can want to change their appearance (using wigs, makeup, fake piercings, etc) depending on who is fronting.

systems can post about their personal experiences with their disorder and be open about having the disorder.

systems can have a complex headspace or no headspace at all.

systems can have varying degrees of dissociation and memory loss.

systems are not always aware of who is fronting or who they are.

systems can refer to their alters as anything they feel comfortable with, whether it be alters, headmates, parts, or even something like rats.

systems can realize they're a system at an early age or be unaware/in denial for a long time.

systems can go to parties, drink, smoke, and do “normal” things that singlets do.

system alters can have positive triggers.

systems can have times where their alters rapidly switch or their fronting room is crowded/overwhelming.

system alters can have varying levels of communication with other alters.

i shouldn't even have to say this one, but systems can have dyed hair??

tldr: if you don't have the disorder, don't speak on it. fake-claiming does more harm than good.

[the-orange-solace]

When I was a child, I watched an episode of Criminal Minds where a man had a split personality. A woman who killed other women who threatened the man she formed to protect. I remember her sitting in the dark on a couch, a cigarette in hand beside a lamp, as she spoke to an Agent about why she had to kill them, that it was to protect him. It was her entire purpose for existing.

As a child, I used to pace empty halls in the middle of the night and lay in bed, repeating in my mind that I would be the only being in my body. I will not break into multiple people. I will be in control. I have to be because, at the time, I believed I could break into those monstrous plurals you see on TV. The ones that killed their family after years of neglect, abuse, and wrongdoing. The ones you should be afraid of ever becoming, no matter who you are or your situation.

So I became terrified.

And yet, nearly every night, I'd look up at the sky or the ceiling and beg for something to change—to not be alone. I was stuck pretending I was a different character, a type of escapism that sometimes got out of hand, lost in an identity that wasn't my own. Looking up and imagining being taken away, every character I adored was by my side, caring for me in return. I had to keep going, be them, and exist in a world with them.

I'd made up stories, different realities, and places in my mind to escape to, as well as explanations for things my underdeveloped brain couldn't comprehend in the place I found myself within. I clung to concepts, characters, and situations that reflected my own, and soon, I no longer felt alone—not with all the escapism I conjured up, not with the different identities to help me face what was happening.

But I was in control. I was one being. No matter what. I had to be a single being because that was good. I had to be good.

I would never hurt anyone, and being many meant being bad. I couldn't be bad.

When I was a teenager, I started researching and getting involved in minority and disabled spaces. I loved being informed, the stories, the many perspectives, and the complexity of humanity. So it was no surprise when I shared a plural headcanon with a friend, and they felt safe coming out to me. They were many. They took my hand and guided me through a community I was fascinated with and wanted to aid and represent like so many others.

I spent years learning, staying silent as others spoke, just listening to everything I could. But then, one day, like so many others, I spoke through a different facet, a different identity I had created as a child. The many faces of me represented things I could not be, I could not hold, nor could I handle. I was struggling; some of me wanted to lash out. So she did. She lashed out.

As always, I was faced with kindness, listening ears, and aid that then pushed me more to the surface from drowning. But I never left; just another part of me was lost, right? Of course. People are complex. I deal with my emotions in a complex way. Of course.

My plurally disabled friend watched as I became more comfortable speaking through the identities I had, whether they were facets of myself or characters that helped me. Soon enough, the continuous "role-play" and "emotional processing" developed into normal conversation, a comfort, a relief.

They kindly approached me and asked if I was a system, too. They had never met anyone who spoke to themselves like I do, definitely not any singlets. None of our other friends did, in person or not, not even people in our families. It was just us.

The fear from my childhood arose. I couldn't be multiple; I couldn't be more than one. It was bad. But hadn't I learned about Plurality? All its ups and downs? Its complexities and nuances? I accepted it wholeheartedly; I learned and evolved from the demonized perception I was given as a child. So, why was it still bad?

Because I must be lying; I must be a fake, a poser. It was the only reason, wasn't it? I had seen so many conversations and arguments about fakes, those who wished to be special. Had I somehow become the harm they spoke of? How could I do this to a community I swore to listen to and fight for?

I obsessed over it, forcing the panic, dissociation, habit, and ease of speaking in multiple identities and beings of myself away. I buried it as deep as I could for the betterment of everyone else. The community didn't deserve such harm, and I wouldn't bring it to their doorstep if I claimed it to be something I'm not.

The loathing became so present it formed into tics that caused aches and disruptions in my life. Multiple stressors--along with an identity crisis--will do that to someone. So my shoulder and neck muscles ached from shrugging, flexing, and all the repetitive movements I couldn't stop without crying from the suppression. So I didn't. I let it disrupt and hurt.

Then, one day, someone, some random, unknown system to me out in the world, spoke about how it didn't matter what was real or not; it didn't hurt anyone. Plurality and the belief of it didn't hurt anyone. It hurt no one to discover themselves, to test the waters, to simply pry into yourself and learn. There was no shame in figuring yourself, or yourselves, out. There was no right or wrong, nothing to be ashamed of or fearful of. Just another part of living.

So I did. I poked and prodded. I gave my parts names, spoke to them in the middle of the night, asked questions, got to know them, and learned we couldn't talk through words at first but could emotions and sensations. I realized I couldn't find where my Plurality started or where it ended, that we—oh god, we—the idea was so surreal but...comforting—were so combined, living without specific individuality outside of me that there was no separation in sight. Not that I could figure out. For so long, I believed everything was just me. Only me.

But now it was someone else, too. These things that made no sense, these things that felt out of place or special, unique, and ever-changing could be someone else.

Someone else.

The more I reflected, learned, applied, and prodded, the more things made sense. Until one day, I looked at my friends, held my breath, and spoke. Stated that it like it was a sin for me of all people to say.

I was plural.

No one blinked an eye. No one questioned it outside of boundaries and clarification. It wasn't surprising that their childhood friend was many. How surprising could it be when they used so many different names for different parts of themselves to express hard things?

It was astonishing.

And here we are, years and years later, grown and still learning, living, fighting, but more in touch with ourselves than ever before with so many more sys friends and aquatints. More experiences, a better understanding.

It's not shameful to learn, apply, and reflect. You take nothing from anyone but your time and open-minded exploration of the world and yourself(ves). There is no evil in being human, living life, phase or not. There is nothing wrong with you, any of you, for existing or living. You just are. I embrace you, I embrace us, and I embrace everything that comes with a life of many.

So, if you're struggling, just know you're not alone outside the body. We know, and so do many others. It's going to be okay; you'll find yourself in time. Don't rush it. There will always be time.

[syscultureis]

Not a system but I wish people would stop using the word "singlet". It makes me feel like my trauma isn't enough to have a complex disorder. I wish people would use words like 'non-system / non-sys' or 'non-plural'.. I'm sorry If this is being insensitive in someway, I don't mean to offend any systems.

Singlet is the same thing as cisgender or straight, it's not an insult it's a description

[t4lon]

but like. can we talk about how CDD systems kind of just aren't allowed to have spiritual beliefs at all, according to a lot of the stricter medicalists?

for all the blustering about fictives not being their sources, about all alters being "brainmade", for all the "actually if you have DID, this is happening instead of whatever you just said", you people seem to forget that the systems you're talking about are people who have the right to self determine the meanings of their experiences

please learn that someone with DID saying they have alters who come physically from other worlds is not necessarily "delusional" (though it would be fine if they were), "anti-recovery" (a frankly embarrassingly amorphous buzzword, at this point), or "misinformed". sometimes they are just someone with a disorder, who also holds personal beliefs. like any person without that mental illness would.

it's not fucking fair to tell people that, because they have a complex dissociative disorder, they are just inherently barred from exploring their own existence through the lens of spirituality. if you insist on only targeting the spiritual beliefs of the mentally ill, trying to systematically force all DID/OSDD-havers to conform to one set of psychological beliefs, and you don't bring the same energy to countless religious singlets . . . You are frankly being fundamentally ableist!

[syscest]

hi im assuming the us vs them post is about a specific term, which one would that be?

so the sysmed out-group term being referenced in the joke post was (as the reblogs guessed) "endogenic", and I'll lay our thoughts out straight just once to avoid being potentially taken the wrong way

I've got two angles here, existential theological linguistic bullshit, and harm-reduction. stay with me here because even if you're not on board with the first thing you'll want to see the second.

so "traumagenic vs endogenic" is a false dichotomy, and I don't just mean "there's a secret third thing", I mean both classifications are fundamentally not real.

personally? we haven't the foggiest idea why we're a system. but the thing is, I don't think anybody else does either - I think it's genuinely impossible to know why your own consciousness is behind your own eyes and controlling your own body, why you *experience* existing in first-person at all. Like shit, lots of singlets believe it's because a soul has been created or introduced to their flesh, and a bunch of others think that's a load of crap and the chemicals just *do this* on their own. Singlets get this unalienable right to believe whatever the hell they want about why they're experiencing being themselves all the damn time, and I refuse to believe that systems are uniquely special in a way that singlets are not such that anyone can fucking flawlessly divine the cause of our consciousness all of a sudden. These are existential-tier questions and to deny their impossible complexity and the right to self-belief over them is, in my eyes, to deny systems something many singlets feel is part of what makes them human.

You can believe all sorts of stuff about the nature of your own systemhood just like how you can believe all sorts of stuff about the nature of your own existence - that doesn't make you definitively right, it's just a meaningful mechanism through which you understand your own experiences that other people should respect - it's like any faith, go figure.

Frustratingly, these words - traumagenic, endogenic - they're not talking about belief, they're objective buckets actively being used for exclusion. So every time we use the term "traumagenic systems", in saying "systems that objectively exist because of trauma" we are saying, loudly, "it is possible to know why a system exists". and frankly? no the fuck it isn't.

Anyway that's airy bullshit and reflects very idealised interactions so - practical, realist opinions, and harm reduction:

Saying "I'm pro-endo" is a net good, though I think "I support all systems" is probably marginally better because it doesn't perpetuate categories pushed by sysmeds for exclusionary reasons as being essential to defining systemhood - as we joked about.

Contrastingly, self-declaring "traumagenic" or "endogenic" in a bio is a net bad. Saying "I'm a traumagenic system" also says "Hello sysmeds, I believe in your dichotomy and I'm one of the good ones" (great way to get sysmed followers), and that factor doesn't go away if you go on to say that you support all systems - you've already thrown away your opportunity to shield more vulnerable systems from harassment through making who sysmeds need to target more obscure.

In fact, regardless of whether your bio says to sysmeds "I am a target" or "I'm not a target", by saying it explicitly, you're pressuring other, more vulnerable systems to similarly self-declare. It's like cis people putting pronouns in their bio to shield trans people from harassment through obscurity and embarrassment, but in reverse - if you shut up about it, and *just* call yourself a plural system, even if you do believe in their categorisations, you stop the propogation of the self-labelling and exclusionists are forced to make themselves look like idiots because most of their harassment would have to be done at random. It's basically herd immunity - nobody talks, everybody walks.

anyway yeah there's context for future, though honestly the section in plural respect is a lot more succinct lmao

[its-plural-singlet-time-baby]

oh my gods i’m so excited to see more plurallet stuff popping up!!! When we first worked out me were plurallet (sometime last year) there was only coining posts and a couple of plurallet positivity post so seeing this blog makes me so happy!!!

That's how we felt too!!! This blog isn't getting much traction because of that though (also because we don't know how to tag properly :/) but thank you so much!!!

I'd love to learn more about you and yourselves if you're comfortable! Sharing experiences could be nice and help build community!

@fragments-and-fractals

[piratesparrotdraconian]

sometimes when i go outside and look up at the trees, i realize just how small i am. and i like that. i am a complex organism, living in a complex ecosystem, living on a complex ball of rock/lava/water, living in a universe with screaming black holes and exploding stars, with billions of other species and the remains of those extinct living with me.

i'm so small. does it really affect you if i'm nonhuman? if i'm transgender? if i'm vincian? if i have a complicated relationship with being a plural or singlet? if i'm an age dreamer? if i'm asexual and arospec?? if i'm nonbinary and a trans man?