Your Alter Ego
I started singing lessons a few months ago, and it has been such a cool experience.
I walked in there for the first time, not knowing if I could even hold a note (let's just say I've had "mixed reviews" from those around me). I felt shy and unsure.
And only a few lessons in, I was fully activating my Main Character Energy. Singing Adele.
Loudly.
It felt like I’d go into these sessions and be an entirely different person for an hour.
Someone who is confident, unafraid to go for the high note.
Unafraid to take up space.
(and no, this doesn't mean I am suddenly a world-class singer. And no, it also doesn't mean I'll sing on demand lol)
It’s so fun being this person, and her vibe starts to spread to the rest of my life too.
I think it’s so necessary for us to have a space where we express a part of us that doesn’t often get to be expressed or where you just get to feel very different and play a different role to the ones you have in your everyday life.
As clinicians, we tend to have a lot of seriousness, responsibility and the pressure to put on a certain “face” at work. We spend our days taking care of others' needs, and being the person they need us to be. Not to mention all the other roles and responsibilities we might have in our lives.
And in order to stay some version of SANE, we need to have the option to balance this out with freedom and fun.
With variety, joy, and a good dose of - dare I say it - selfishness.
(I don’t really believe that doing something just for you is selfish, but that’s a topic for another day)
So I’d love to know…
What spaces or activities do you have in your life where you get to be very much not-a-clinician?
Maybe on weekends you become a fiercely competitive hockey player on the weekend who doesn’t give a crap about being “nice” - she just wants to WIN.
Maybe you dance around in your lounge, singing “Good Morning Baltimore” with a hairsprayed updo.
Or maybe you close the door to your responsibilities for a little while and work on a fantasy fiction piece or hone your Masterchef skills.
And if you don’t have an area of your life where you get to do this, think about something you’d secretly (or not-so-secretly) want to have more of in your life. How do you want to FEEL?
What could you do that brings out that part of you, or makes you feel that way? Start with the tiniest step if that's all you can manage right now.
So, what is YOUR alter ego like and where do you get to express that version of you?
Let me know in the comments!
