A Very Deep Dive Into Reality Shifting

Kristin's links:

Reading:
☼ Christopher Partridge -- The Re-Enchantment of the West Volume I & Volume II
☼ Esmé Lily Katherine Partridge -- Digital Spirituality: Technological Re-Enchantment in 2020/1? An exploration of Witchcraft and Reality Shifting on TikTok as (post)modern spiritualities existing in Wouter Hanegraaff’s ‘mirror of secular thought’
☼ Erik Davis -- TechGnosis: Myth, Magic, And Mysticism In The Age Of Information
☼ Eli Somer, Etzel Cardeña, Ramiro Figueiredo Catelan, Nirit Soffer‐Dudek -- Reality shifting: psychological features of an emergent online daydreaming culture

Outro Song: "Driving in The Rain" by Timecrawler 82

[LivTheSlayer]

everytime someone brings up reality shifting I think of that one post that said "when the shift was so bad you have to sit in silence for a couple minutes" and someone in the comments said "HOW DO YOU SHIFT?" and they responded with "no like a work shift, like a job"

[mr.god.complex]

why would anyone choose to shift to the regular ass harry potter universe when they could shift to my immortal instead?

[ElizabethRainey]

I just realized that if someone had never dreamed or even heard of it and suddenly you explain dreaming, they would think you are insane too. Like, dreaming is in and of itself, completely bonkers.

[nobellprizz]

Oh so when a tiktoker shifts into an alternate fictional world it's "spiritual" and "super cool" but when I dissociate for three weeks because I forgot to take my psychosis meds, suddenly it's "concerning" and I'm "putting myself through unescessary trauma". Wtf smh.

[stardusst]

guys DO NOT shift into the backyardigas world, i met pablo and he called me a slur 😢

[emackenzie]

I feel like this whole "reality shifting" thing also damaged the general understanding of maladaptive daydreaming. It isn't just "man I got really into that daydream" it's "my actual life is being impacted by excessive daydreaming, sometimes to the point of literal dissociation from my physical self." There are people on TikTok who genuinely think spacing out for a couple minutes is a disorder

[morbidmanatee]

Thank you for the reminder that mocking people who aren't hurting anyone isn't a sign of intelligence, it's just cruelty for no reason. You can take a critical stance on an idea without being disrespectful. I know I need that reminder now and then. The internet is really good at desensitizing us.

[Stanzaawashere]

A few years ago, I commented "brb shitfing into a world where twitter doesn't exist" on a shifting guide video as a funny haha joke and then twitter changed to X so like did I do it?? Help???

[ginger_L]

crazy how people will be like "guys i promise shifting is real" and then describe the heaviest dissociation i've ever heard. its honestly worrying (coming from someone who has problems with this sort of thing myself).

[bobthemonitor]

The popular understanding of multiverse theory is so frustrating. Yes, under the theory there are infinite realities, but that doesn't imply everything is possible. Some realities might not be in the set.

Think of it this way: there are infinite numbers between 1 and 2, but none of them are 3

[ruffleskirtt]

i totally agree w what u said abt it being a genre of self insert fanfic. when i was super into shifting for awhile back in its prime i rarely actually tried to shift. id just spend hours 'scripting'. finding cute templates, writing out a very detailed idealistic version of myself, making playlists and pinterest boards, and just sitting there imagining the scenarios i wanted to play out. for a bit after whenever i stopped believing in shifting i still found myself doing the scripting just cuz i found it fun lmao

[ameXkage]

I thought the content of this video would be much different because what I’ve seen of shifting is a LOT scarier than some kids wanting to believe they are dating Draco Malfoy. I’ve seen more “altered reality” shifting along the lines of creating your ideal life with a meticulously described “ideal body”, lots of friends, relationships, nice house, expensive clothes, etc… as if to make up for your current life. I have seen people with truly terrible lives totally lose themselves in this shifting thing instead. Even getting as dire as “if you die while shifting you wake up in your desired reality”, like this one girl was essentially wasting away and not eating or getting out of bed because she wanted so badly to live in the other world where she was pretty and popular and her parents weren’t abusing her. Somewhere further down the rabbit hole than the “shifting techniques and tips” stuff there is someone telling these girls that if they simply refuse to take part in reality their other reality will grow larger and larger and consume this one, and their spirit won’t die with their body but rather they will be fully manifested in their “true life” that they were always supposed to lead. Like if they pass away at just the right time it’ll happen for them. Like some kind of messed up reincarnation or something. I knew about the Harry Potter and fandom shifting stuff, but I figured the real juice was this essentially death cult thing that’s going on. Wonder if I’ll ever see it talked about because it sure is CONCERNING.

[HanGojira]

someone once asked me if she could shift into my life bc my life was her "dream life" but it was literally just bc im japanese no other reason

[hathorthecow]

That clone thing was an immediate red flag for me, because that's basically how I feel during a dissociative episode.

[homunculusgrey]

Old guy here. I have never heard of reality shifting but I used to be very much into lucid dreaming. BaCk iN mY dAy there was a schism in the lucid dreaming "community" on whether or not things occurring within lucid dreams are real, and whether or not the things you do have repercussions in a different reality than our own, and a lot of things you use to discredit the notion lucid dreaming and shifting are not the same things have already been discussed over and over. Which lead to the desire to lucid dream while relinquishing control and becoming emersed in the reality you're exploring, and we called it "Astral projection." With the end goal of being able to separate your spirit from your body at will whether or not you are asleep or awake.

[mariethille]

I remember when I learned about this as a teen I wanted to shift to live one year as a tall man. Who would have guessed I was trans?

[beebopjones]

As someone who also struggled with maladaptive daydreaming growing up, I also agree with how dangerous this can be by telling younger people that this is just a reality you can escape to with no consequences.

[NikkiBudders]

"But if you fight in a war you will get traumatized, idiot" is my new favourite quote

[grell]

TW: suicidal thoughts

I disassociated heavily as a child. After years of going into my brain's fantasies, I DID NOT WANT TO GO BACK. I started wondering why I came back at all. I started wondering why I went to school. I started wondering why I kept eating in this world. Why should I ever go back to a gloomy, colourless, painful world when I could just stay in the "other place"? I started getting confused as to which one was "real". I thought about killing my physical body so that I don't ever have to come back here. It was hell. And to see a bunch of teenagers doing the exact same thing terrifies me because nobody deserves to go through the confusion of being stuck between fantasy and reality.

[hungrypikachu]

I personally think the whole shifting trend is just maladaptive daydreaming/lucid dreaming and it's so sad to see it being such a trend. Our world is so uncomfortable and painful for people to live in that it's literally a trend for children to dissociate for fun.
I did what sounds like the exact same thing as "shifting" when i was in school. I was incredibly unhealthy and in a really bad place and it was one of my many unhealthy coping mechanisms for it.

I just hope everyone can find healthier coping mechanisms/ get to a better environment eventually :(