Yesterday I went to lunch with an amazing group of women and we got to talking about our alter egos. Who would we be if we could be anyone? Would we be ballerinas, singers, maybe the President of the United States?
After I got home, I really started thinking about who I would want to be if I could be anyone. When I was a teenager I used to look through magazines and imagine what I would like to look like if I could be someone else. I can vividly remember looking at a picture in a magazine of a girl in jeans and cowboy boots leaning up against a brick wall. She had beautiful, long, dark hair and a cute button nose, the Brooke Sheilds type, and for a long time I imagined what my life would be like if I could wake up in the morning looking like her.
But yesterday when I was thinking up my perfect self, looks didn’t pop into my mind at all. So when did I stop dreaming about changing what I looked like and begin dreaming about what I wanted to become instead? Who knows…maybe when I stopped looking at those magazines and started reading DISCOVER and THE SUN instead.
So I started thinking…who would I want to be? The first thing that popped into my head was a writer. But wait, I told myself, I’m already working on that one, so maybe I should pick something else and I’m not going to say an artist either. Wow, two down, that’s not too bad.
Of course, I can still think of a whole world of things for my alter ego to be good at. She’ll be a screenwriter and an actress, a singer songwriter, and a really good cook. She’ll probably own a farm and take lots of trips to the ocean. She’ll be warm and friendly. The kind of person that makes you feel welcome the moment you walk into a room. She’ll write thank you notes, and probably not waste time on the internet. She’ll be organized and generous and will definitely find time in her day to exercise.
The list could go on…and maybe it will. I’m sure there are plenty of things on that list just waiting for me to check off. Look out alter ego, pretty soon you’re going to be wishing that you were ME.
The great thing about being a writer (and an artist) is that you can invent as many alter egos as you like! Who said Multiple Personality was a disorder?!?
ReplyDeleteMy alter ego would love to do laundry, never own anything that isn't being used (ie...nothing would be in a storage) would always wear red lipstick, and have a flashy job on TV reporting the news or be the funniest female on SNL!
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