How do I know I'm not making this all up? How do I know I'm not just paying head-games with myself, pretending to be something "cool"? {Ghostshadow}

Worries about one's sanity are common enough in the otherkin community. We know that our beliefs are very different from what society tells us is true. Some of us take these worries as a very good sign, noting that the refusal to even question one's own sanity is an almost sure sign of insanity.

But even more importantly, agreeing with everyone else, and believing everything society does, are not the best measures of sanity. A far better measure is that of _functionality_: can you function as a stable, productive adult in the consensual reality?

For example, if you can keep a stable job, a roof over your head, keep up friendships, relationships and/or a social life, pay your bills, and generally behave like a functional adult (if you're an adult :) ), then it doesn't matter whether you consider yourself a human or a creature from another planet.

On a deeper level, many otherkin find that identifying as such -- identifying as an elf, or a dragon, or a vampire, or a pixie, or whatever -- actually gives them *more* of a sense of stability in their lives and understanding of themselves. If it's simply something you call yourself, then maybe you are just playacting. But more likely, you've found (or will find) that accepting and embracing your identification and your nature as otherkin helps you understand things about yourself that never made sense before. And if it does, then calling yourself otherkin may be helping keep you sane.