internal age =/= bodily age!
thismight be controversial, and i'm bad at words. but i wish more people knew that internal age isn't thesame as bodily age. YES! i'm a teen alter internally, butlike i have been the same internal age for nearly five years with zerosign of that changing! and i know how to handle myself donot worry too much about me ok!! i'm bad at words ihope this makes sense
we've been diagnosed officially since 2022 & in-sys dating ISN'T unhealthy, i've seen a lot of people demonize that & i find it dumb, our psys is very aware of our insys relationships and understands it a lot! it helped us grow more confident in showing affection.
- sourcedating shouldn't be a thing, introjects aren't their sources and i got asked multiple times if i dated my insys partners just because of their sources — i find that INCREDIBLY ridiculous. also had multiple people flirt with them because their medias were commonly shipped
that unless it's actually relevant to their healing, it does not matter if a part is introjected. also that 99% of people will not care about your parts/alters in general and proxying or signing off just isn't necessary
You can't control who or what you introject from most of the time. This goes for fictives, factives and the alters who just pick up a multitude of traits (from the media they consume, the people they meet or see, the environments they're in... etc).
Also you don't control the way you introject either. For fictives, you might not start off as canon-compliant (or identical to your source). For factives, especially ones of your irls, they're more commonly just imprints of a certain side to them.
And then even if you do have an introject who's either canon-compliant or highly resembling of the person in question, nobody's identity will be stagnant. All it takes is time and events/experiences that will shape the way you act, the way you identify, your preferences... basically the normal human experience.
I think some people forget that introject alters are their own people, more or less. They will turn out the way they turn out.
"Nothing can live up to promise / Nothing can stop its narrative (you)" fits here imo (lyrics from Transgender by Crystal Castles).
That it's complex, and others can have their system functioning differently from what may be considered usual.
I've seen some people doubt the validity of other systems for presenting their identity in a very stylized (whatever the term for that is) — saying that DID/OSDD is a disorder, not something used for aesthetics. That it appears as if other systems are just roleplaying as alters.
I do get those people's side, how it feels quite sad seeing other people who have DID/OSDD appear to be even enjoying it. When for others the dissociation, amnesia, identity confusion, constant conflict with alters, and other issues that come with it are extremely distressing. Far from something that they can find enjoyable or freeing if they were to embrace having.
But personally, I don't think one can say that the other is less valid just because they don't seem to be suffering with it on a certain degree. Those people who can often and openly present their alters online in their own aesthetics may be using that way to cope? Online can sometimes feel like a safe space for alters to express themselves, as it may feel too vulnerable to do so IRL. Maybe they've gone through recovery or learned how to find peace with their alters? Plus they are not obligated to share how they might actually be suffering from the disorder just to prove the validity of their system. I don't think anyone can easily judge someone just based on what can be seen on the surface.