My former alter ego
Between 2012–2014 I took on an alter ego in order to write about commercial yoga culture. Somewhat different than other alter egos, mine was not a single person, but a community. I essentially became more than one person. Here's what I learned during my tenure as "more than":
- I never took negative comments personally. Like, never ever.
- I never felt the need to protect my identity.
- I wrote with abandon. The words spilled out of me. Probably some of the best writing I've ever done up til recently.
- My alter ego, who was without a history, functioned as a sort of safe mirror for people. This allowed for a very quick and vibey community to form around them (my alter ego was non-gendered)
- I could be my best self through my alter ego. They were the coolest version of my self.
Most importantly, those two years gave me skills I took into my "real" self-identified expression. I now know that so much of what I am online is an alter ego, whether I want it to be or not. I am connected to my audience, but by choice. I have autonomy. We are in relationship, not in *a* relationship. Their opinion can be both important to me, but not decisive of who I think I am or need to protect. I can create everything I created behind the anonymous veil with a veil that has my face painted on it.