When you bend down to talk to a child, do you use the same tone and words you would use with your adult best friends? When you walk into the workplace, do your habits and vocabulary from home come with you? When you dial the phone to make a call, do you have a "phone voice" that takes over when someone answers on the other side of the line?
It's true. We spend the day, every day, changing roles. We adjust accordingly to the people and experiences we are exposed to in any given moment. If we walk into a silent funeral service, odds are we tiptoe in as quiet as a mouse. If we enter a rowdy sports bar that is in the middle of a play-off game, we rise to the level of adrenaline all around. As humans, we often have many roles. And we can experience several different roles throughout any given day. When this occurs, we are stepping into an alter-ego of sorts. A slightly different version of ourselves.
Most of us do not give any real thought to this subtle change in character. It is something we just do automatically. After all, it is still us. Just tweaked a bit is all. In my case, there is the mother version of me. Wifey me. Teacher me. Spiritual me. Author me. And so on. I step into these roles rather unconsciously throughout the duration of my waking hours. But just recently, I decided to get more curious about slipping into my various characters and discovered something rather unique and wonderful.
I have a super dominant alter-ego that has been a very important and integral part of my entire life. She is the hero in me. The one who nurtured me in my youngest years. The one who championed me during my rocky adolescence. The one who broke generational cycles and started new ones. The one who encouraged me to lose weight and feel more vital. The one who beat cancer. The one who said "enough, it's time to quit drinking."
She has always been there, my alter-ego. I have always admired and called upon her heroic qualities. Her guts. Her moxy. And now I know I can beckon her whenever I so choose and she will show up.
I have finally given her an official name. Meet Margo Reilly. The author who wrote a book about all we have conquered in life thus far.
You my friend, have an alter-ego as well. Maybe several of them.
Think back to a brave or highly successful moment or two throughout your life. Go ahead, close your eyes and do it right now. How did it feel? Who were you being? What qualities did you possess when being that version of yourself? Do you wish you could possess those traits in several aspects of your life?
Guess what? You can!
Take the time to get to know yourself. The REAL you. What lights you up? Where do you soar? When is your confidence at its highest?
Call more of that into your life. Step into the greatest version of you. So often we let the "real" version of us fall away to parenting, demanding careers, or toxic families. But the person you are most obligated to- is yourself. When you can embrace this truth whole-heartedly, everything else just flows and makes better sense.
Who do you show up as?
Today I challenge whoever reads this to imagine the best version of themselves. Then, start showing up every single day like that person. Look at yourself in the mirror each morning and proclaim to be them. If you're feeling really brave, name your alter-ego like I did! In moments of weakness or doubt, call them into the ring. Let them save the day. You don't have to go-it alone! It's in you, just as it's in me!
If you want more information on harnessing your alter-ego, check out this book!
Great book with real life examples of people stepping it up with their own alter-ego!
