Hi I was wondering if you could help me? I need help distinguishing if I’m other kin or coping linker. I completely identify as a crow(for psychological reasons not spiritual) and while it helps me cope I don’t remember choosing it ?? I just recognized it , I still feel phantom wings and get species dysphoria. I feel that my identity of being a crow is deeply rooted in me. I’m not sure whether or not I’m otherkin or copinglinker though. Please and thank you.
Hi! I’m not too experienced with coping/otherlinks so if anyone who sees this has any better input, feel free to respond <3
AFAIK copinglink is when you consciously choose to identify as something. I’ve been told that you could’ve had a prior deep connection or heartedness/kith/synpath to something and then choose to take it on as an identity. If you did not consciously choose to identify as a crow, then it’s a kintype, no matter the origin or your relation to this identity. I’m the same way with my hellhound kintype! I guess it formed as an extension of my dog kintype, so it kinda makes sense, but while I’ve felt like a dog and elf since childhood, I only started identifying as a hellhound as a teenager. It is purely a coping mechanism to me but is on the same level as my other kintypes, and I didn’t choose to identify as a hellhound, I just started having those shifts and now it’s apart of my identity, lol.
I’ve also heard that a linktype can become a kintype, as in, you consciously choose to identify as something, but it becomes so apart of your identity that you can no longer stop identifying as such.
I hope this helped!!