Have you ever reinvented yourself/your life?

[warofthepearls]

I don't mean on the same scale as my 2am Monday morning insomnia driven life reevaluation plans to drink more water, read more books and be less snarky to people. Or fleeting daydreams after a bad day in work to move abroad and do humanitarian work. Have you ever just completely reinvented yourself?

I have an old friend who did this. She always had quite a reserved personality, very dry (not in a bad way), always the sensible one in the group, tee total. Then almost overnight she moved away, had a total career change, complete change of style, interests and personality. She's the life and soul of the party, always first up to dance, always has a cocktail or whatever in her hand, really loud as opposed to previous quiet nature, loves fitness and nutrition - just all sorts of things that are completely different to her previous lifestyle. Her entire personality is completely different, the way that she speaks (language she chooses rather than accent) it's hard to explain. Nothing happened in her life to trigger an epiphany or big change, she just told me that she decided that she wanted to be X, Y and Z as a person and so in her words 'fake it until you make it'. I find it fascinating. It reminds me of one of my throwaway thriller books where someone runs off and changes their identity. I wouldn't have the commitment to keep this up for more than half a day.

After I split with abusive ex, I went from being a shy, subservient, scared girl to a woman who had her own life, was allowed to see her friends, could choose what she wore ..

When I was with him I couldn't exercise because apparently that meant I was trying to look better to get someone else's attention.

So when I left him, I went from obese to a healthy weight, started doing my hair properly and looking after my skin, got involved in a hobby, started getting involved when friends were going out .. I completely changed.

Now I'm living with a new partner (have been for 4 years), things are great, I have confidence, I'm addressing my anxiety caused by ex, and yeah - I'm a completely different person.

I'm not sure I reinvented myself as much as I was just allowed to be who I always was .. but either way, I changed.

When I was in six form, we had ex-pupils coming back giving us advice about starting university. One said it was the ideal opportunity to start afresh, make new friends, cease new opportunities etc. Not quite the same as the radical changes mentioned above.

Yes, I have. I moved to an area far from where I previously lived and cut off everyone except my family. I didn't know anyone so made up a completely different life history (which I've told so often that I'm now almost believing it's real!) and turned myself from being shy and having no friends to outgoing with more friends now than I've ever had. I changed how I look and what I wear. I'm off all social media apart from MN and have changed my username here from one I've used for years.

I think its possible, its deciding to be confident and having the opportunity to do it. My big change came from spending a year abroad, I was much more confident when I came back. Also landing a career change. None of these happened all together though.

@OldTinHat

Yes, I have. I moved to an area far from where I previously lived and cut off everyone except my family. I didn't know anyone so made up a completely different life history (which I've told so often that I'm now almost believing it's real!) and turned myself from being shy and having no friends to outgoing with more friends now than I've ever had. I changed how I look and what I wear. I'm off all social media apart from MN and have changed my username here from one I've used for years.

Oh wow, that's absolutely fascinating. Why did you make the decision to do that? Did you ever get your story mixed up at first?