Hey.
In the past week you've seen me post two images of me turning into a plushie dragon -- and if you were adventurous you read descriptions wherein I talk as if I'm Rux.
(I am Rux, my brain argues)
Look: when I was in sixth grade, reading
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader for an English assignment, the scene where Eustace is ensorcelled into dragon shape hit me like a meteor. By ninth grade, I was on this website in 100% FYIAD mode, telling everyone I knew I was a dragon, I
knew it had to be that way, etc. before
kiki-doodle straightened me out. I'll always be in her debt.
So since then I put on a pretty stern course correction against being a dragon, found happiness as a human dude once more. But, but-- it was still fun pretending to be something else, pony, dragon, whatever. I made it a running joke with myself, the latest iteration being me, CouchCrusader, being the meatsona for a bashful plushie dragon behind the computer screen.
But for a while now, I'd look at Rux and feel jealous (and here's where I throw my love to everyone wrestling with actual body dysphoria, I'm certain what I'm feeling is orders of magnitude weaker). Admitting that I did want a big round belly (made of stuffing!) was not just a terrible ideal to chase for my body's health, but would also have to mean that I never did outgrow that dumb kid from middle school. I'm coming up on thirty years old now, and saying stuff like "I'm a plushie" could only lead to social disaster.
What changed in this past week, I guess -- was realizing that I get to choose how I present this side of me, right? Resolving to eat better and sneak in more exercise to shed this dad bod doesn't mean I still can't genuinely want to sit around as a stuffed dragon all the time. It's doublethink, yes, but with a kicker: finding things to like in diametrically-opposed body types is not hypocritical, and practically speaking the danger of doing so is most likely minimal. No one, that I'd care to associate with at least, is going to care that much about me spiraling off on plushie adventures because we both know I'm just having fun with a personal fantasy.
So, yeah. You're probably gonna see a lot more nonsense from me going forward where I straight-up talk as Rux (I guess that's what the kids call RP?), and I'm not going to care as much about whether people think I'm being delusional or creepy. If I wanted to be either of those, I'd have to put in a lot more work. It's kind of a scary thing, believing that you have a grip on reality when others might not think you do -- but hey, I've got all of 2019 and beyond to continue working with that.
Thanks for reading -- or not reading. I'm just glad all of this is out of my head. Admittedly, I could've just linked you to
this Twitter post I made instead that says the same thing, but in meme form. At least I've got all of 2019 and beyond to figure this out, right?
Couch