3 Creatures In A Trench Coat Forest Collective

They/them Talking about the realities of our disorder through poems and thoughts pieced together Follows from @rivian-at-rydell

[8-saplings-make-a-forest]

Updated Pinned Post!

We are a collective of 50-something alters (roughly), and this is a blog of our experiences living with dissociative identity disorder, told through poetry, written thoughts, and reflections about our life pre- and post-diagnosis.

We are an adult, and our content is aimed at other people of our age, although our teen alters do regularly interact with this blog.

Collectively we can be referred to as Forest for an individual fronter, or Forest System/Collective for us as a whole. Since we rarely sign off as individuals here, we will all use they/them pronouns.

This page will have some lighthearted posts or personal thoughts but will also tackle some triggering topics occasionally, which we hope to tag appropriately, but if you notice that something isn’t tagged then please do let us know and we will fix it.

Please feel free to ask us questions or send random asks!!

Boundaries for our blog and our tagging system below 👇

Tags:

the Forest sings (poetry and creative works)

personal/personal thoughts (personal posts, not necessarily related to DID)

stuff and things (the. Stuff and things I guess)

to my alters (messages to my own alters)

reblogs

informative (anything we’ve found to be informative or helpful)

reminders (things that we think are important to remember)

did experiences (our personal experiences with DID + other people’s experiences that we relate to)

the spiritual stuff (the spiritual things)

To be updated

Boundaries:

Page Boundaries (subject to change or update) If you’re going to discriminate based on race, gender, sex, sexuality, disability etc we are

[inkskinned]

you know what? fuck it, man. the world is held in the fists of people who like to break things. at this point i’m saying who gives a shit. wear that victorian dress you don’t have an excuse for. dress up like a witch, pointed hat and all. who cares anymore. why worry about it when there’s bigger stuff to worry on. i’m saying. yeah, this lipstick is too dark, wanna share? i’m saying go talk to her, tell her that you like her hair. i’m saying she’s out of my league but i’m still swinging, i’m saying yeah i’m in a ballgown and it’s a pta meeting. what about it. eat the extra brownie, tell her your feelings. i’m saying if nothing matters than we might as well give nothing meaning.

[inkskinned]

#i’m saying if existence is a void at least i’m going down screaming.

it’s been 9 years since i wrote this. i was experiencing 24/7 anxiety so badly that i needed serious medication. these days in the back of my car is an “emergency party box.” when people admit they no longer really celebrate their birthday; i tell them to put the sash on and queue up kesha, we’re going bowling or something. these days i can’t spin around without finding something i am enamored with. these days i list 3 things i’m grateful for before i fall asleep. you’re probably one of them, just by virtue of you existing.

at the time i wrote this, i was suffering through a severe panic attack literally every night. i tortured my brother with constant 2 AM calls just to hear someone else breathing, because i couldn’t be alone in the silence.

i rarely wish i was still 23 even though ironically i had more hope back then. what i can tell you is this: i love the same way, but bigger now. i’ve worn the velvet cape to several business meetings. i spent thursday in a crop top without caring what my stomach looked like.

i told her i like her; i often dress as a witch. i still got glass in my foot this morning. i’ve kissed maybe a thousand people since then and met a million more than that; passing like the shadow of a hammerhead in trains and planes and buses.

i saw you, beloved, there, maybe, on platform in south station. you didn’t speak, but you said: i struggle to give the nothing meaning. the nothing fills up everything. it is just loud and yellowed panicked silence. i can’t stop shaking.

on the roof, birds curl together against the chilled spring wind. the sky outside of the craft store was an iridescent pink. the nothing already had meaning; you are giving it meaning by witnessing.

the act of living, beloved: it’s just decoding how to translate it.

[sys-port]

If you're in a relationship...

who dates within your system?

only host dates somebody

only host dates somebody but sexual alters are active

only host and few alters are in a relationship individually

almost all of the alters are in a relationship individually

we are in a relationship collectively (not caring much who is fronting)

Voting ended onMar 14

[8-saplings-make-a-forest]

So one of my biggest triggers for dissociation is hunger but as I continue on my healing journey I dissociate a lot less than I used to. Which means I do just find myself in situations where I’m hungry and can’t fix that, so I have to learn to be uncomfortable. And it’s such a learning curve with training my tolerance but I think I’m slowly getting there (it just helps if there aren’t also other factors that could overstimulate me. Like the sun in my eyes. Right now. Argh!)

[sys-port]

A warning post - please, remember that if you use pluralkit, people can not only see your system on it's dc server but also can find it if they look for it (stalkers). You can change the option to private in the settings somewhere but I forgot the command so any comments about that are appreciated. Stay safe!

Dream

[squidfreak]

DON'T PUT YOUR TRIGGERS AND/OR PHOBIAS IN YOUR WEBSITES/PINNED POSTS/BIOS/ETC. FOR EVERYONE ON THE INTERNET TO SEE. ONLY TRUSTED PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW THAT INFORMATION, NOT THE WHOLE INTERNET. YOU WILL GET HURT!!! MEAN PEOPLE WILL USE IT AGAINST YOU!!!

[sys-port]

Controversial poll below:

Alters who present asian in head space:

are allowed to look like asians but can't say they are nor stereotypise culture

are allowed to be stereotypical

are allowed to look like asians and can say they are but not be stereotypical

depends on the reasoning behind why they are the way they are

only fictives are allowed

can't even look like asians in head space

mix of options above - tell us in the comments or reblogs - be nice

Voting ended onDec 25, 2025

We don't state our opinion here - just asking.

[8-saplings-make-a-forest]

You think you guys have it rough try being an alter that thinks tea tastes weird in a British Chinese system, tea is half our identity

[8-saplings-make-a-forest]

Academic type alters are GREAT for academic things and writing the essays needed in certain applications but they are NOT good at knowing how to put a bra on. It’s almost midday and I’ve only just realised I’m wearing an inside out bra because (I think) an academic alter got dressed this morning

[theseus-system]

i guess one upside of all having very distinct modes of speech is being able to catch those times we switch that we otherwise wouldn't have noticed. the downside jumpscaring myself with my own accent.

[alteredpanel]

host complex so strong you forget how the disorder works

[syscultureis]

Sys culture is having alters with different dietary preferences/restrictions and feeling super guilty when you eat something they can't/won't eat

.

[squaresaw]

[alteredpanel]

somewhere in my wicked childhood, i must've done something good

[8-saplings-make-a-forest]

I’m trying to go back to school. I do not remember what my high school qualifications were and I need them for the uni forms. Luckily my dad has an obsession with making copies of everything

Almost a decade later he still has my grades and even the exact times and rooms I sat the exams in

[alteredpanel]

spoiler: it was more

[8-saplings-make-a-forest]

About to violate my personal veganism for the sake of our shared body. Hope you assholes appreciate this