Superman has Clark Kent.
Batman has Bruce Wayne.
Spiderman has Peter Parker.
Every self respecting superhero has an alter ego.
Is it time for you to have one?
Would it really pay for you or I, relatively normal human beings, to have an alter ego?
I say yes and probably not for the reasons that you’d expect.
I never claim to have super powers. I never claim to be able to save the word with my own two hands- which actually would be very nice now that I come to mention it.
But what I do claim to have is an alter ego.
She is all the things that I am on the inside but that I don’t advertise on the outside.
Each of us have many facets to our personalities. We have our different strengths, our different values and different things that we will act upon more readily than others.
We also mostly show only one side of ourselves to others on a regular basis.
Let me be clear, it’s not because you’re trying to hide. It’s because sometimes its more appropriate or more acceptable to present yourself in one light versus in many lights.
We would like to be seen as a steady, rational and capable human being rather than someone who has all the ranges of emotions that came factory installed at our birth and who shows all those emotions whenever and however we see fit.
Can you see a difference here?
Our bosses or supervisors would like consistency. They like to see the known quantity of “You” that they hired. What they probably would not like to see is the whirlwind of emotions and reactions that we are normally, i.e. our humanness.
They are paying for your Peter Parker side, if you will.
This rational side is productive, supportive, rational and easy going. This side is calm and accepting. This side does not rock the boat.
Do you really want to live in this goody-goody side of yourself forever?
I say no. And this is why an alter ego is so important.
The other side of you is brilliant, daring, exciting and fully vibrant. This other side of you is your true self and deserves to be set free.
This side is emotional and unpredictable but lives each and every single moment to its limit.
This side can also be a little bit scary to live in.
You cannot be shy here. You cannot hide or turn into a wallflower.
Your Alter Ego will not come or go quietly. It is not meant to. It is the home of your passion, of your creative genius. It is where miracles can occur and where courage resides.
This is exactly why you need an alter ego especially if you find yourself living in only one of these two sides.
We are complete human beings. We have emotions. We have strengths and we have our intelligence.
We have the ability to choose who we want to be, where we want to be and how we want to be.
We can choose to live in the quieter, calmer side of our nature or we can choose to live in the out loud, in your face side of our nature.
I choose to live in a little bit of both.
Sometimes I need to be quietly productive and sensible.
Sometimes I need to be brash, loud and in my power.
And sometimes, I need to bring the two sides together and allow my brilliance and genius to be supported by my rational and calm side, to find a way to be both courageous and take no prisoners as well as accepting and forgiving.
I suspect that you are the same.
You can call them alter egos. You can call them the different sides of you. You can pretend to be only one or the other, but what it comes down to is simple.
You are human. You have so many things to be proud of that make you, you.
Embrace them. Live in them. And maybe dabble in one or the other, but keep both of them close to you, ready when you need them.
