Mermaid Shifting

F-Shift

You can't do the Shifting process out of order, or it will not work and will possibly have terrible side effects. Just promise me you won't do that, okay?
Fantasy shifting is the first step. If has several sections to it, but these casual changes daily will eventually pile up and become habits. 

Personality- Okay, before you shun me and delete this website from your memory forever, I'm not asking you to go from Regina George to Katniss Everdeen. Just casual changes that adapt you for the life of a mermaid- both on land and in sea. What do you think a mermaid acts like? What do you think your sub-species of mermaid would act like? Try Live Action Role-playing- or Larping (sounds weird, I know.) Just act a little more like you sub-species of mermaid every day, until your personality is more adapted for the drastic change in lifestyle.

Diet- This one should be easy, but if you are addicted to a certain food like cheeseburgers of candy, this might be a challenge. You need to change your diet to fit what you'll be eating in the waters. Like sushi? Great! That's seafood, and you're one step ahead of everyone else. Vegan-Queen? You might have to give up that vow. In fact, you will HAVE to. Just eating plants won't work for a mermaid, so you'll have to eat fish from time to time. The more you eat fish, the stronger you'll be, and the faster you'll be able to swim, with larger distances ahead. It just makes sense to eat fish because they will be one of your only sources of protein, and one of the most abundant. Start small, with eating chicken instead of beef. Once your used to that, switch to fish. Try finding out some edible and easily available water-native plants near you. Try those instead of that kiwi. Speaking of fruit, try to go for something that will be easily accessible from the waters, like pineapples for tropical mermaids. Get even more detailed information in the Diet section of MermaidsCorner.

Activities- A huge softball fan? Awesome! I'm guessing you play too, which might not be so awesome. Maybe instead of that you could try out for the Swim Team this year? It's just a suggestion for sports-loving people, but it helps move along the transition and makes you a stronger mermaid. It also makes you feel more at home in the water, and, once you get your tail, help you evade predators more swiftly than others.

Meditation- For those of you who don't know what meditation is, it is the action or practice of meditation. It's basically just relaxing. Let me lay out an outline for you:

1. Stretch lightly. don't try to hurt yourself.

2. Sit down on the floor or in a comfortable, roomy chair. Cross your legs Indian-style.

3. Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths, relaxing your muscles. My personal preference for doing this is to tense my body up, then slowly relax each part individually, going in order from your head all the way to your toes.

4. A lot of the time, you have the choice of what to picture in your mind, but I'm going to give a tiny shove in the right direction with some guidance. Think of a beach or the water. Picture it in your mind. Feel the water, the moon, the currents rushing up against you. Keep taking deep breaths, and just imagine this place, letting it take over you.

5. Stay in the trance for as long as you like. When you are ready, slowly pull yourself away. Then open your eyes. don't rush yourself- this is a relaxation process.

6. Stretch again to loosen your muscles, which may have stiffened. Repeat this at least weekly, but I recommend twice daily. I wake up at 5:00 AM, meditate, then get ready for the day. At night, I meditate and then go to sleep.

Sleeping Cycle- Since we just talked about meditation, let me just say that it is amazing for your sleeping schedule. I sleep soundly. But you need to too. Don't stay up late on your phone, at parties, or having sex anymore. The only time you should be staying up late is when you have to go (or sneak out) to a body of water to swim or try a spell. If that seems like too big of a commitment to this, than you aren't ready. Try meditating, and that's it, until you are ready to start shifting. You have to be 100% sure you are ready to give your lifetime to the call of the sea.

Knowledge Limit- That's a weird subtitle, or at least confusing. So let me explain. You really don't know much about mermaid biology, do you? Well you need to know about it. And also the basics of where you will be swimming, the predators there, and what you should be eating, what's poisonous, what has a lot of nutrients, water level and pressure, your limit for where you can go without imploding, where hot-spots for mermaid activities are, that general idea.