Changing Roles
I think it's interesting how the role of an alter can change over time, specifically in situations where the original role is no longer needed. I know in some cases when this happens the alter can go dormant, which has happened in our system before, and in some cases they can fuse. The other thing that's happened though, for us, is an alter just picking up a different role.
I think in some systems this can be a conscious choice, or at least I've heard some folks talk about it like it is, which is also interesting to me, but for us I don't think it's ever been an active decision. It's more like the original role isn't needed anymore but the part who had that role is well suited for a different role as well.
My name is Hazel, and my role used to involve dealing with certain aspects of social media (namely tiktok) and the negativity we received from it. A lot of times this looked like defending other system members when they received hate, either by making video responses or just replying in comments. Sometimes it just meant I fronted when we were feeling the weight of the negativity a little too heavily, because I could deal with it.
We deleted tiktok a couple months ago though. So where did that leave me? I didn't go dormant. I didn't fuse. Instead, I realized somewhat recently that I had just started filling a different role. We don't need a "tiktok protector" anymore, but something we did need was a physical protector.
We work two jobs right now, and one of them frequently involves walking around a property at night and interacting with strangers. A lot of these strangers are men. The alter who used to be an "everything protector" has over time narrowed down her focus to specific aspects of protection that don't cover physical protection, because we didn't need a physical protector for a while, or at least we didn't need one consistently. Now, mostly because of this job, we have two.
Trubel and I are the physical protectors now, and each of us deals with a different level of perceived or potential physical threat. He deals with higher-level threats, like adult men, and I deal with lower-level things, like teenage boys and old men touching me without permission. Neither of us is going to instigate anything, but we're both on guard. Just in case.
Question for you folks—which happens most often for you and your system when a role is no longer needed? Does the alter who fills that role go dormant, fuse, pick up a different role, or something else entirely? Your brain is typically going to do what's best for your system, and that looks different for everybody.