I refer to myself as a “lifestyle Little”, and that my little/regressed age is 2-3 years old. I thought I’d take a minute and breakdown what those statements mean, specifically TO ME (I can’t speak for all Littles, lifestyle or otherwise).
To me, “Lifestyle Little” means that the most authentic version of myself is my little side. This is where I’m happiest, this is where I feel the most completely unmasked, and this is where I feel the safest. As a result, I’m trying to make this the space where I live the majority of the time, at least to some degree. It means when I can’t fully present as little because of cultural reasons (i.e. when I have to be big bear to go into the office, deal with family/parental units, traveling), I find some ways to not completely separate from being little. For example, part of my work “uniform” for office days includes having one of my pacifiers in my pocket, with the paci leash clipped to the outer edge of the pocket. This way if I need a moment to recenter/touchpoint, I squeeze the nipple of the paci even through my pocket, and it reminds me that I’m ok and I’m safe.
Now what do I mean by my “regressed age is 2-3 years old”?
First, clothing. If I have my preferences, the majority of the clothing that I wear, design wise, would not appear out of place for a toddler. Shortalls are some of my favorites. Bright colors (especially Tie Dyed stuff), prints with things like cars, animals, dinosaurs, Disney characters, patches with logos and such on them. Bottoms with snaps in the crotch for diaper changes are generally good. Preferred PJ’s are sleepers (either footed or unfooted), but 2 piece pjs with similar designs on them are good.
Second, in reality not just fantasy, I am mostly not potty trained. I make it to the potty about 80-90% of the time for messies. For bladder its about the exact opposite. I’m in diapers most of the time. The only real exceptions are showers (obviously), work (occasionally, usually when I’ve got a really big meeting and upper management is involved), the gym, and SOMETIMES for doctor’s appointments. If I’m at the bar, in full big bear regalia/dress, there’s almost certainly a diaper under my kilt. Any time I’m going to be away from the house for more than 4-5 hours, I carry a diaper bag with me (or stuff for a change in the other bag I’m carrying). I CAN go undiapered without too much difficulties, though it does take mental effort & energy to not wet automatically in that scenario. I’m not intending to change this, I’m not interested in even playing at potty training. If anything, the proportion of time I make it to the potty for messies may decrease.
Third, my emotional regulation is not very good, especially when I’m unmasked. I get frustrated and moody easily when things are difficult. At the same time, I can swing from that to happy and silly very quickly. Having someone bap me when I’m struggling, putting my paci in, sending me to the corner for a few minutes for a timeout to recenter helps A LOT.
Fourth, my comfort items are very analogous to that of a toddler’s. My stuffies, particularly Pooh and Kirby, are very important, and I definitely need one or more of them nearby. Paci within arms reach is good, ideally clipped to my clothes. Blankie is good. When I’m nervous and need to be doing something with my hands, I often fiddle with a Fischer Price fidget cube. Its not unheard of that it ends up in my mouth.
Fifth, I like being treated like a toddler in small ways. Having my diaper subtly (or not so subtly) checked by the bigs around me is good. Having one of the bigger kids or bigs with me have me hand their hand while crossing the street. Having my clothes picked out for me. Being given something to do to entertain me. Being teased a bit here and there as long as its not malicious. I DON’T like having my food ordered for me that’s a hard limit.
I don’t normally engage specifically in “Toddler-type activities”. I do enjoy things like coloring, watching cartoons, playing games, playing with toys, stuff like that. But a lot of my activities are normal “Adult” type activities, just done while I’m in little space. I play “adult” video games, like Civ, Battletech, WoW, FFXIV, Zelda, Mario, Metroid, etc. I like playing adult board games too. I read adult-level books, cook on my own, do my own chores (mostly). My cartoons are usually anime, and my movies are stuff like Star Trek, Oppenheimer, Marvel, etc.
A big point that I do want to bring up…just because I’m regressed to the age of a toddler doesn’t mean that my mental capacity/capability is also diminished. My BRAIN is still fully capable, and still contains all of my experience, knowledge base, and training. It might be coming out in in a lisp around my paci, from a bear wearing toddler clothes, but I’m not a “dumb baby”. Don’t treat me like one. Unless someone’s triggered my hypnosis training key words, but that’s a separate case altogether >.> I’d keep that in mind around littles in general actually. You might be surprised at how many times you’ll walk into a cub gathering, and, for example, run into several cubs engaging in a conversation discussing the linguistic and phonetic differences between “hard palette” and “soft palette” languages, and how those differences can create significant challenges for native speakers of one type of language in learning the other type of language.
So that’s one part of me in a nutshell. If you got any questions, feel free to ask, I’m gonna try to be an open book.
#abdl #ABDLPositivity #Little #babyfur #lifestylelittle #littlespace #kinkdiscussion