If individuals didn't experience Awakening on their own, they would not be in this community. There are many types of Awakening, and Otherkin Awakening is the focus of this section. However a brief mention of other types of Awakening, and related sleep issues in general, is in order.
Awakening is a term used in several communities for the idea of transcending the usual grind and coming to a realization of some hidden truth of the self, others, surroundings, or universe. When speaking of the man who dreamed he was a butterfly, who in turn may have been dreaming he was a man, the question is one that hints on Awakening issues: we are born awake and aware, perhaps, but we are taught to sleep, and sleep is ignominous and invisible. We no longer question why we exist, no longer probe the hidden truths of the universe, until at some point reality hits like a ton of bricks and we come to awareness.
Some people are born awake and remain awake.
People awaken on many issues: their sexual orientation ("I suddenly realized I was gay"), psychic powers, some divine experiences, etc. Awakening does not make life idyllic -- the saying that ignorance is bliss is sometimes very true of various types of Awakening. When you're awake, however, you generally want to stay awake in spite of the energy and trouble it takes, and sometimes there is a great deal of social (and other types of) pressure to return to sleep, to stop questioning life, to stop focusing on the background of reality, and to simply keep step with the daily grind again. When one is asleep or returns to sleeping from having been awakened, usually the loss of perspective and knowledge from being awake slides off into an oblivion of repression and denial, not to be seen or heard from unless one re-awakens...Awakening, in some cases, is a slippery slope.
Some say we live in a world with many layers of Dreaming. In fact, in some cultures or philosophies, the physical universe is all imaginary. Otherkin, as a simple rule, have Awakened to one of those myriad layers of Dreaming, or reality, that has to do with species. There are plenty of other layers, sleep, denial, etc. to go around.