Want an Altered Ego to Release your Hidden Hero?
How to overcome anxiety
What is an altered ego?
An altered ego is a character from within you that can surface when needed; it’s a personal creation of yourself that reflects your everyday personality but takes on a different persona. The different persona becomes an altered ego by acting out a role.
Why create an altered ego?
For me, creating an altered ego was about self-preservation against the anxiety I developed from stress. I needed a coping mechanism that prevented me from reacting to stress.
We all get stressed sometimes, and often life can push us further than we are comfortable with. This was the case with me. My former job as a midwife in the NHS meant every day was stressful, tiring, physically demanding and more miserable than fun! Midwifery for me was not the rewarding and self-fulfilling job I had hoped it would be.
Before I had even qualified, I began to show signs of stress. It wasn’t just me; half of my cohort was taking anti-depressants. So one day, when I was nearing a breaking point, my course leader took me to one side and told me I needed a coping strategy. She introduced me to the concept of an altered ego;
In fact, she introduced a lot of my cohort to the idea!
Initially, I thought the idea of an altered ago was a bit wacky, and I worried that people might judge me as a little unstable, but then who would know?
I created a fantastic persona, her name is Jennie, and she copes with everything — she has no fear, nothing fazes her.
How to create an altered ago
Creating a name for your altered ago is the first thing to do.
The name ‘Jennie’ just happened to be the first name that I saw written down when I needed to choose a name. My eyes fell onto my course tutor's desk to a pile of unmarked assignments, and the top name on the pile was Jennie!
The second thing to do is create a persona for the altered ego. Decide what the altered ego’s role will be; this is about answering why you need an altered ego. So if the altered ego needs to manage your stress, it’s likely that you need your altered persona to be confident.
Essentially a successfully altered ego is acting out a character. So for me, I imagine I’m acting out a role — like in a play. It’s easier than it sounds. Nobody knows you are ‘on the stage’; only you know when you slip into the role. Nobody is watching or judging you like they would if you were actually on the stage.
To ‘act,’ you have to distance yourself mentally; For example, working as a midwife managing a woman about to give birth, and the baby shows signs of distress — the heartbeat plummets. The baby needs to be delivered immediately. It’s a situation that happens often and can become stressful very quickly. In that situation, I’d slip out of myself, bring Jennie to the surface and go onto autopilot to professionally carry out my job confidently without fear or emotion. I would remind myself that I was merely standing by spectating and watching Jennie manage the situation.
It sounds bizarre, but it works!
Celebrities do it all the time; for example, Beyonce told Oprah Winfrey in 2008 that she became Sacha Fierce to empower her performances and appear more sensual.
During an interview in 2011 with Rolling Stone magazine, Adele revealed that she becomes ‘Sacha Carter’ during her performances to overcome her nerves and boost her confidence. In fact, it’s not uncommon for celebrities to have altered egos — David Bowies altered ago was Ziggy Stardust.
Permit yourself to step outside the box and have fun with your altered ego. Go on; I dare you! I challenge you to create someone fun to bring forward every now and then.
We live in a fast-paced world that requires us to maintain a level of control and management in our everyday lives. Sometimes we can become overwhelmed by society’s expectations to seemingly plough on despite our humanistic restrictions such as emotions and fatigue!
So to preserve my sanity, I have taken to pulling on my altered ego, Jennie, and frankly, she is brilliant! She has the ability to seemingly tackle any situation with human empathy yet has the thick-skinned exterior of a warrior!
Jennie can accomplish stuff that my ordinary self would become too emotionally involved with. She can maintain decorum and neutrality during stressful times, and best of all, she can appear impartial and maintain an utterly faceless expression in all manner of situations! She doesn’t allow her opinions to surface at critical times when it wouldn’t be helpful.
As a former Midwife, I’ve witnessed some harrowing scenes; But, with Jennie at the helm-of-my-being, I’ve not so much as grimaced during some quite gory events.
Altered egos are practiced far more than we’ve ever stopped to consider. I know many midwives that have altered egos, and I suspect the same can be said for many NHS Healthcare workers.
Some actors use a stage name the same way as some writers use a pen name.
As small children, we unconsciously play with alter-egos by way of role-playing. An example is dressing up in a favourite superhero outfit and pretend play carrying out superhero activities. Clark Kent — a mild-mannered journalist’ altered ego as Superman is one example.
Stage fright is another example. Before going onto the stage, the actor will become the altered role. In doing so, we can distance ourselves from our own personalities and become bolder and more confident.
Conclusion
Creating an altered ego is a positive and empowering coping strategy.
An altered ego helps to manage stress and anxiety. It can bring about an abundance of opportunities that otherwise would not present themselves — like getting that dream job your altered ego managed the interview for you!
https://medium.com/the-shortform/a-poem-for-the-bride-and-groom-on-their-wedding-day-25e7ff14df95
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