Some years back I realized I have an alter ego, another person in me. Not that I have multiple personalities!
Her name is [name_f]Polly[/name_f]. She is young, cheery, brisk, adventuresome, frisky, lively, all those great things. She has many interests and hobbies and adventures. There is no drama in her life.
When I feel everything she is not (adult, depressed, anxious, tired, etc.), I channel [name_f]Polly[/name_f]. And not like woo-hoo channeling on a spirit plane, just summoning up her cheeriness.
Once when I didn’t feel up to writing my holiday letter, [name_f]Polly[/name_f] wrote it (again, speaking metaphorically). When my husband read it, he said, “Wow, that’s a chipper tone!”
Anyway, I find her useful and comforting, a bit like the old advice of “Act as if” and in my case acting as if I were [name_f]Polly[/name_f].
Wondering if anyone else out there feels she (or he) has an alter ego too, another name/type of person who is within?
Yes however this is more of a coping mechanism for me and my mental health/neurodivergent life.
Usually it’s only in social situations or when I’m very uncomfortable and I cannot control it it just happens. I’ve never given it a name but it exists!
Not at all! It’s something I talk about a lot and sometimes joke about. Everyone assumes I’m extroverted due to this but I’m really introverted just socially crippled lol.
I don’t think I have an alter ego as such but I think there is a realm inside of me that could potentially be quite dark? I don’t mean anything serious. [name_m]Just[/name_m] in terms of emotions that can feel overwhelming like depressing thoughts or OCD tendencies ? I’m perhaps not really eloquently describing what I mean here lol.
Oh I do!! So I would say I have three parts to me. Me ([name_f]Dalia[/name_f],) another side I call [name_f]Lyra[/name_f], and another side I call [name_f]Sapphire[/name_f]. I came up with these names when I was around 6 to describe the different parts to me. I think it’s really helped emotionally, but mostly it’s just fun. I think the main reason I even created my “alter egos” was to rationalize how energetic, funny, and hyper I was around certain people but then I had this intense deeper side that almost no one has seen even at age 6. I thought this was super weird and I’m glad to know that I’m not the only one. [name_f]Dalia[/name_f] is how I act normally, [name_f]Lyra[/name_f] is me when I’m extremely hyper, impulsive, brave, and I seem kind of “superficial” or like there’s not much to me, and [name_f]Sapphire[/name_f] is my intense deep side that’s in touch with nature. Well… Sorry for that rant. I hope you like the names. [name_f]Dalia[/name_f], [name_f]Lyra[/name_f], and [name_f]Sapphire[/name_f].
Ashlyn! I’m not social, but [name_f]Ashlyn[/name_f] is who I would be if I were a super social cheer-leader type. So when I have to do things like go to parties or job interviews, I literally just pretend I’m a ditsy blonde. (Not ditsy in an insulting way, but in the [name_f]Ashlyn[/name_f]-doesn’t-overthink way. [name_f]Ashlyn[/name_f] is much less doom spiral than I can be.)
[name_f]Ashlyn[/name_f] came about when I was sort of doing a character at a bonfire, but “just pretend to be [name_f]Ashlyn[/name_f]” has really helped me do a ton of things real me could not do.
Hmmm what should I name her?