Status conditions

While the emoji at the beginning of our Discord status usually represents the main sidesystem that's fronting right now, sometimes we put emojis in [brackets] to indicate "status conditions". These are intended to convey our ability to communicate and, if our ability is impaired, what the cause is.

For status conditions that use language like "doing okay" or "lots of energy" and you are aware that I am currently in a general state of burnout or having a mental health episode, those statuses are relative to the circumstances.

👍 - I'm at least mostly okay right now. If we don't have this emoji in our status but we also don't have an emoji indicating we're doing poorly, assume this status applies. This emoji would usually be in conjunction with another emoji (e.g. "I'm drunk but am okay", "I'm out of the house but reachable", etc.)

⚠️ - Interact with caution. Be especially mindful of other status conditions. If there are no other status conditions, I am probably mildly on edge or busy with something. I may have to tell you I cannot talk right now.

🛑 - Do not interact. The only exceptions are people who have been directly told they are exceptions. If you are an exception, I cannot help you with anything right now. If you are not an exception and you message me, and it is not a matter of imminent immediate safety that absolutely nobody but me can help you with, this will frustrate me, and even if it is absolutely urgent, I cannot guarantee that I can respond right away.

🪫 - I'm exhausted. My ability to speak is minimal to non-existent. Talking to me will probably take a lot of energy from me. I am running on fumes and cannot take care of anybody but myself right now.

⚡ - I am tired but able to speak. I am most likely actively recharging or dealing with burnout. I probably will not be helpful if you need someone to talk to because you are upset. I may be able to help with some things, but I have to prioritize taking care of myself.

🔋 - I have a rather high level of energy right now. I can handle most things and will probably be able to support you if you are upset.

💬 - I'm semi-verbal. I am having difficulty with language, but I am not completely unable to put together sentences. I will likely not be able to discuss complex topics, even for fun. I may ask you if I can use blinkies to communicate with you, as I have a set of blinkies I use for communication purposes. This condition can also include speaking in a way that doesn't follow typical English syntax.

😶 - I'm non-verbal. I either have literally no ability to communicate using verbal language, or I have an extremely small ability to use very simple sentences at immense cost of energy to myself. I cannot really have a conversation under these circumstances. I am unable to ask if I can use communication blinkies with you, and if your comfortability with blinkies is not known to me, it would be helpful if you told me so if I can use blinkies with you.

😵‍💫 - I am in a different state of mind than usual and it might affect the things I say. I am most likely experiencing some kind of psychosis right now. I may or may not be distressed; please check before talking at length. I may say things that are not consistent with your understanding of reality. I am open to being reality checked and disagreed with, but I may not necessarily see things the way you want me to see them.

👁️ - I am experiencing some kind of symptoms right now. This can include paranoia, delusions, hallucinations, stress-related headaches, cognitive distortions, and impulses. I am probably able to speak fairly coherently, and I don't know if my symptoms will be observable to anyone else, but I am probably actively trying to manage my symptoms, and I may have to remove myself from the conversation if my symptoms get impossible to manage.

🙂 - I'm in a comparatively good mood. If nothing stressful comes up, my mood is likely to remain good. If combined with a more negative status condition, I am in a good mood for the circumstances.

😄 - I am in a very good mood and it does NOT appear to be mania/symptoms. There is most likely a specific actual reason that I am feeling this good (e.g. something enjoyable is coming up).

😟 - I'm anxious/upset. If you're someone I talk to frequently, or if I am expressing my anxiety semi-publicly, and you're open to trying to help me calm down, I would appreciate that help. Otherwise, be aware that I am in a very bad state, will not be able to handle further stressors, and may not be able to hold a coherent conversation.

🌀 - I'm dissociating. I may have difficulty understanding things or communicating adequately.

💥 - I'm angry/frustrated/having violent feelings. I am normally a fairly calm person, but due to BPD, I occasionally have outbursts of anger, usually in the form of disproportionate anger over things that are legitimately frustrating. I will be prone to making black-and-white, hostile, or violent statements, normally directed at whomever I am disagreeing with (which is normally not the person to whom I am talking but rather towards some group of bigots or another). You should probably not interact with me in this state unless you are familiar and comfortable with my more intense emotions. You should also not take anything I say too seriously.

🧸 - We have age regressors in front who are regressed right now. While most of our regressors prefer to be treated mostly like adults when they are regressed, they are probably not the best ones to talk to if you have anything very serious to say. In such an event, please ask who is fronting, and then direct your concerns to anyone you've been told would be appropriate for that. If you are a regressor or caregiver, feel free to ask to engage with our regressors.

🐾 - We have therians in front who are having a heavy kinshift. If there is an animal emoji in parentheses after this, that's probably the animal they are right now. If you message us, they will likely act like animals over text. Feel free to treat engage with them as such!

💕 - I'm actively having romantic/queerplatonic thoughts. I'm probably engaging in self-ship, or some of our headmates who are in a relationship are fronting together. We will probably want to talk about this if you message us, or we might post about it in servers.

☀️ - I am in an extremely good mood, possibly too good a mood. I am reachable, and you can discuss most things with me, but I may be a little grandiose, and I can't be entirely sure that anything I'm saying is not influenced by mental illness.

🌘 - I'm unavailable because of something enjoyable or neutral that I am doing at home. While I am not necessarily stressed in this situation, I am not likely to respond to messages, or will only respond sporadically.

🌲 - I'm unavailable because I'm out of the house. I leave the house somewhat frequently, and I am usually in little to no position to check my phone when I am out. I sometimes message close friends or post in my personal channels of some of my servers when I am out, but not much. I cannot reliably carry on a conversation, but I might be able to try if you consider it urgent.

😰 - I'm unavailable because of something bad or stressful. I am most likely physically okay, but for some reason that is not better covered by any of the other emojis, I am not really in a position to talk to anyone.

🎭 - I'm working on writing/music/art right now. Availability is variable, but responses are not guaranteed. If I am drawing (which is usually what this status is in reference to), I will likely be reachable and will want to show you my art.

📋 - I'm working on a task at my computer. This usually refers to things like updating my websites or making therapy notes. I am probably not very reachable and may need to give this my full focus.

🎤 - I'm out at a music-related event. There is a good chance that I will want to liveblog aspects of it in servers that I am in. However, I am still not reliably reachable, and there may be chunks of time where I am totally unavailable because I am listening to an artist performing or am performing myself.

💞 - We're out on a self-ship or system date. Normally, we're very unavailable when we're out, but if we're on a date, we are likely to want to talk about it with Discord friends or in some of our servers. If you see something at the end of our status with this emoji listed as "name/name", that's who's on the date!

🔞 - I'm engaging with kink/sexual topics. I may be drawing kink art, doing kink, or writing about kink. If I am available, I will probably want to talk about kink, but I will only do so with your consent. I usually only use this one if I'm actually interested in talking about kink (as opposed to engaging with it in a way where I'm busy with that).

❓ - My system is blurry and we don't know who's fronting. We normally prefer to proxy in DMs and in servers, but we may be unable to right now. We may be splitting a new headmate, or we may just be stressed. It's generally not urgent that we figure out who is fronting, and we have methods of figuring that out when we need to.

🌱 - My system appears to be splitting a new headmate. Depending on the circumstances, we may be doing things to actively help them split. We are most likely dissociating and suffering with a headache.

🌼 - My system is going through a phase of splitting a lot of headmates. This is also known as "blooming". This is usually as a result of prolonged stress or changes in life circumstances. We are most likely struggling to manage it. Please do not remark on it if this happens, even if you feel there is reason to be concerned; this is typical for my system under certain circumstances, and there is little to nothing you or us can do about it.

🌟 - My system has split a new headmate. Please feel free to say hi! It's usually helpful for new headmates to talk to people shortly after forming. "New" can mean "just split right this moment" to "split a few days ago". This one is usually put at the end of a status with the names of the new splits following.

🚗 - This headmate is most likely to respond if you message. Only appears at the end of messages. While we constantly have headmates coming and going, whoever's name is listed is the most likely to respond if you message us. It is okay to request to speak to someone else.

🍷 - I'm drinking. I'm not drunk per se, but there's a good chance I will become drunk later in the day. I may have heightened emotions, but those emotions are likely positive. You should ask first, but I'm probably not in a bad place to talk about things that are somewhat (not extremely) serious or stressful.

🥃 - I'm drunk. I'm not in a good place to discuss anything serious, and my typing may be impaired.

🍃 - I'm extremely stoned. Due to anxiety, I am usually at least slightly high on weed. I am normally good at handling myself when stoned. However, I sometimes have more than I can handle. In this event, there is a good chance I am laying down and am unable to respond.

💊 - I'm under the influence of something other than alcohol or weed. This includes situations where I took a benzodiazepine for medical reasons but it is impairing my ability to speak.

🫗 - I'm in drug withdrawal. This would normally be in reference to weed (during a tolerance break) or benzodiazepines (when rationing or out of medication). I am anywhere from intensely on edge to the worst agony I have ever been in. This does not happen often.