Dot's Comic (Parts 2 & 3)
These are parts 2 & 3 of a multi-part sketch comic series!
Dot's Comic (Part 1, Continued)
This is the continued first portion of a sketch comic series!
Dot's Comic (Part 1)
This is Part 1 in a multi-part sketch comic series!
Part 5 of Arrow's Comic has been added in now!
Hiya everyone I TOTALLY goofed (or maybe tumblr glitched?) and Part 5 of the Arrow's comic was not uploaded into my queued posts - but it's there now!
(I do think it was my best work visually for the whole comic so I would highly recommend going back to check it out haha)
Alright peace y'all <3
Arrow's Comic (Parts 6 & 7)
These are parts 6 and 7 of a sketch comic series!
Arrow's Comic (Parts 4 & 5)
These are parts 4 and 5 of a sketch comic series!
Arrow's Comic (Parts 2 & 3)
This is part 2 and 3 of a sketch comic series!
Arrow's Comic (Part 1)
May's Comic (Part 3)
This is part 3 of a sketch comic series! The full comic is available here on Issuu.
May's Comic (Part 2)
This is part 2 of a longform comic! The full comic is available here on Issuu.
May's Comic (Part 1)
Full comic available here on Issuu!
Important Content Warning for this Section - there are mentions of suicide in the first few pages.
Where I've Been
As suggested by the title ... here's the Update (tm) about my personal life. As a heads up, this is a bittersweet, but often negative update.
Content warnings for background mentions of abuse, of hospitalization and illness.
Aros In Relationships - Update Post
Growth (Part 3)
Growth (Part 2)
Growth (Part 1)
Platonic
Platonic, 1/1 - The Original Arospec struggle 😭 … okay, I'm (half) joking, but quite genuinely this has been a big challenge for me navigating this world as an Aro! I know platonic affection is something people struggle with, aro or not, but I personally believe the aro flavour has its own unique layer of anxieties.
I've touched on this before, but a lot of this stems from my experiences growing up. When I was a kid, I really wanted and tried to express affection in a way that feels … authentic? And genuine? To how I relate to/experience platonic feelings for others. I don't know if my struggles with social skills affected this, but trying to show affection didn't end well most of the time. People thought I was being weird, or misread my intentions and would give (extremely unwanted) romantic advances. I know it's not the end of the world, but … this impacted my relationship with friendship as a whole. It hurts to feel like your feelings aren't reciprocated! And after a while this led me to reconsider how I communicate and express myself, if at all.
😅 … and yeah, I realize that was a bit of a downer. If it's of any comfort or positivity, like I mentioned in the comic I am working past what I now know is the effect of amatonormativity on me. I've been reflecting a lot on this topic so I've got a lot of (still forming) thoughts, but the gist of it is this: I know now I don't need to feel bad for being confused and conflicted about how I relate to and express my feelings for others - and even though I don't know what I really want when showing affection, being aware of why I feel this conflict is a much healtheir place to start from. I think my next steps are going to be more honest about my feelings with myself, since I learned to ignore a lot of them with amatonormative pressures. I hope it will eventually lead me to communicating these feelings more openly in my relationships in the future too 💚💚
As usual, I want to emphasize not every aro goes through the same things. If this doesn't apply to you, that's totally okay! Actually I'm really glad if you haven't had to experience this flavour of inner turmoil haha 😂 Either way, I'm always interested to hear about your perspective on all of this. Is this a part of your experience as an aro too?
[Image Description:
Slide 1: Celia sits in front of some plants, holding a blue watering can. "Something I've struggled with my whole life - and still am now, to a lesser extent - is showing affection platonically in a way that's authentic to how I'm actually feeling."
Slide 2: She continues "Even for people I'm not necessarily platonically attracted to, just people I genuinely enjoy being around and want to express my apprecation for -"
Slide 3: She stares down at an illustrated board of her thought process. "I'm always second guessing how I should behave"
On one side, Figure A shows her being very excited to see her friend. She has a whole puppy dog eye thing going on, and in the background she thinks: "should I be as excited as I actually am to see them?? What if I seem toooooo friendly? OH NO what if they think I'm flirting? What should I do? Help -"
On the other side, Figure B shows her standing with a much calmer if somewhat blank expression. An arrow labelled "A very platonically appropriate distance" is between them. She thinks "Or I can try toning it down … but WAIT what if I don't seem happy enough when I see them? Will they think I'm too reserved? WHAT IF THEY THINK I'M BORING AND THEY DON'T WANT TO HANG OUT AND-"
Slide 4: "As you can see … it's a dilemma" She says while making the stereotypically anime-esque streaming tears face.
Slide 5: She shrugs now, "But in all seriousness, I'm not going to pretend I have any good answer for this - because I don't, I'm still figuring things out. At least now I understand it's the amatonormativity getting to me."
Slide 6: "And moving forwards, I think as long as I'm being respectful of other people's boundaries, and communicating how I'm feeling … I'll work it out eventually." She waters her plants.]