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Zack: "Sometimes I feel like I have to take control of Maria before she looses her shit."

This is one of those recurrent problems I have heard about and read about a fair bit. A lot of the time it honestly feels as though it comes down to one of two issues. The first is, is that there are people who do play pretend with it and do not totally take it seriously or they only take it with so much seriousness that they might say it in passing; think of them somewhat like those who call themselves a certain religion but never actually do anything along those lines that would show their faith. Building off that, there are those who do take it seriously but fall into a number of stereotypical traps of what they believe, often honestly and erroneously, what one should do, usually as a result of a dearth in knowledge. Sometimes it is just a lack of knowledge, other times a lack of guidance. I cannot say for certain, as I have obviously only recently ever joined a community about it but as I noted I read a great deal, but there are times people get pushed particular ways too. Be that through anthropomorphizing themselves - in the sense that they act like how a person imagines an animal to act, not s much how the animal acts - or through being told what they are, sometimes by someone who themselves doesn't know any better or worse, those type of people who manipulate. Speaking for myself, I do not find the former right and the latter is obviously not acceptable either, but really the first is an issue because it takes a great amount of effort to really go that deep into one's soul.  To just use an example of what I mean, imagine someone having open beliefs and wondering if it were possible, then being peer pressured, even if positive, into being a wolf. They see some resemblances and it feels right and someone they trust told them they were a wolf, so they just assume they are. Realistically there are all kinds of questions that should arise, like "How do I feel like I wolf?", "How do I see myself as a wolf?", "What kind of wolf?", "What mannerisms that I have that other people see that are wolfish? What about people I don't know well?" Granted not all of these are always applicable but I am sure everyone gets the gist of it. Its misinformation and that it is difficult to do research on it. How does one research their soul and their psyche? Its hard, hence why theology, philosophy, and psychology are all sciences of their own to varying degrees of rigidity and credibility. But that's part of why I hold the belief this sort of opinion arises a lot, as does those outside the concept. They only really ever see and know these types of people and it seems to jade a lot of their opinions. Not to say one can't act out those animal instincts appropriately but they have to be appropriate. One of the main reasons I am so cautious in sharing my feline element with people and slowly, over years, introducing it to them in little doses and aspects to where they start to understand it, even if I never say it outright. I am amazed how people have tread lightly around the idea when they started to suspect it yet by then, it was all them just wanting to wrap their minds around it; they were open to the conversation, even if I never actually said it. I am pretty certain if I started behaving exactly like a person would stereotype and expect a cat, despite being a large cat, they would not only be annoyed, it would confirm their biases. Long response, I know, but I have really attempted to grasp this problem especially for my own sake of trying to share something as strange as, "At my core, I am an animal and I see, experience, and know the world very differently."

I work as a farrier, so I am dealing with equines all day.

As far as I can tell there are literally no otherkin in my area, there are 1 or 2 furries, but that the closest I've found. I guess that's about what you should expect from a tiny town in Texas though. 

I've never met an IRL otherkin because I really just don't go out, but I assume they'd be fine beings. They're probably just excited to have met another person like them - otherkin might seem rare in your area to them so that makes them want to express their kintype in a way they see fit and talk joyously about it. I absolutely adore my kintypes, and if I met another otherkin IRL, I'd most definitely want to discuss with them at length about our identities because I find it fascinating (if the other person wanted to also partake in it, of course). Also, I'm pretty sure most otherkin are going to be "cringy" in some way, it's just how you perceive it. I'm not sure what you consider to be "sane" otherkin behavior, but I think it's perfectly normal because I and many, many others act similarly when they get the chance (regardless of age or wellbeing, some are just more mature with it than others), but more especially otherkin on the younger side or those who have newly awoken. I think it's just a matter of miscommunication, overexcitement, or kids just being kids. I also agree with Maria and Ben.