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Having an alter ego can reduce anxiety, benefit confidence: research

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Re: Having an alter ego can reduce anxiety, benefit confidence: research

#131

True Story: the guy who leads our sales team is a super star named John (legal name). He’s fearless, organized, focused, determined “and Canadian” as he would say. Any way, while he was a rising junior his GF came to the office one day and I heard her call him Jake (nowhere in his name legal name). I asked “who the hell is Jake?” to which she replied “oh, that’s what we call John back home”. I looked at him and he sa…

Lots of people named John choose to use another name. 'John' is common enough that having to negotiation which John on a team or group of friends uses the name is a common problem. I prefer to either use 'Jack' (a common alternate form of John, similar to Richard/Dick), or simply my last name by itself. I've also seen many Johns use their middle name, or 'John [LastName]' pronounced almost as a single word. Back home…

Initials seem pretty common around here, I've known a few Johns who go by JW JP JK etc. Never gave it much thought but after your comment I realise they are all Johns!

Re: Having an alter ego can reduce anxiety, benefit confidence: research

#132
post #95

It’s a variant of the suggestion often given in therapy and recently popularized by Jordan B Peterson I believe — and no matter what you may think of him as a person, it is a good strategy — “Treat yourself as someone worth taking care of”. Meaning: look at yourself as you would look at your own child, a pet, or anyone you would have the responsibility of looking after. It’s easy to miss meals, not dress yourself wel…

JP did a great job of packaging self-care and advice for disaffected young men, it's unfortunate he was put into a coma attempting to treat his addiction to benzodiazepines for 8 days in Russia. :( I also struggled to buy nice things for myself, especially clothing I wore the same converse for like 6 years until they fell apart. Definitely something growing up poor did to me. EDIT: Whoops I completely messed up the t…

Jordan Peterson was given a medically induced coma for 8 days, not 8 months, in January of this year, according to his daughter.[1]

[1] https://nationalpost.com/news/the-doctors-here-have-the-guts...

Re: Having an alter ego can reduce anxiety, benefit confidence: research

#133

True Story: the guy who leads our sales team is a super star named John (legal name). He’s fearless, organized, focused, determined “and Canadian” as he would say. Any way, while he was a rising junior his GF came to the office one day and I heard her call him Jake (nowhere in his name legal name). I asked “who the hell is Jake?” to which she replied “oh, that’s what we call John back home”. I looked at him and he sa…

It's useful for customer support too. Some places all use fake names for personal safety but it also lets people say what needs to be said more confidently.

Re: Having an alter ego can reduce anxiety, benefit confidence: research

#135
post #7

I wonder how much this applies to furries. How often is a fursona “the real me” vs roleplay? I’ve witnessed both in different individuals, and also both within a single person (primary ‘sona and some other separate ones which are just role playing). Adjective Species probably had an article on this, though it also reminds me of the discussions about therianthropy, contherianthropes, and New Age discussions of the use…

[deleted]

Re: Having an alter ego can reduce anxiety, benefit confidence: research

#136

This worked on our (then) 5 year old, who was shy on the soccer field but kicked it up a notch when we told her to be a dinosaur. Of course, this also resulted in her running around with t-rex arms and baring her teeth, so I guess you have to be careful which alter ego you adopt.

Your story reminded me of this comic http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2013/10/menace.html which I like to read every once in a while. Edit: And of course you already had two suggestions for this. I should refresh the page before commenting.

Goes to show how great that comic was.

Re: Having an alter ego can reduce anxiety, benefit confidence: research

#137

I need an alto ego... Frederick König. I am a man who can sit for hours working productively at his computer. I am a man who is not affected by boredom. I desire nothing more than to sit, and code. My productivity is off the charts and I am being considered for a promotion. I have excellent coding ability and can apply it with ease by sitting, and coding, for hours, and hours.

I have infinite patience.

It doesn't matter if the tools are broken, the docs are missing/incomplete/incorrect, the API is non-sensical, the library is buggy, the service is unreliable, the support team is incapable, or the space around me is filled with hordes of ignorant and disrespectful people. These difficulties are temporary. Like smoke in the wind, they may block my view, sting my eyes, congest my nose, and make me cough, but will be gone soon. I keep moving on, away from the source of the smoke.

I move steadily toward my goal. My soul is enveloped in a shimmering cloud of dispassionate focused equanimity.

Re: Having an alter ego can reduce anxiety, benefit confidence: research

#138
post #19

True Story: the guy who leads our sales team is a super star named John (legal name). He’s fearless, organized, focused, determined “and Canadian” as he would say. Any way, while he was a rising junior his GF came to the office one day and I heard her call him Jake (nowhere in his name legal name). I asked “who the hell is Jake?” to which she replied “oh, that’s what we call John back home”. I looked at him and he sa…

What, John liked cold calls so much that he had to invent alter ego Jake, who didn't like cold calls, in order to get a girlfriend?

Perhaps it was not to get a girlfriend, but to keep one and nurture a meaningful relationship?

Re: Having an alter ego can reduce anxiety, benefit confidence: research

#139
post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

JP did a great job of packaging self-care and advice for disaffected young men, it's unfortunate he was put into a coma attempting to treat his addiction to benzodiazepines for 8 days in Russia. :( I also struggled to buy nice things for myself, especially clothing I wore the same converse for like 6 years until they fell apart. Definitely something growing up poor did to me. EDIT: Whoops I completely messed up the t…

Jordan Peterson was given a medically induced coma for 8 days, not 8 months, in January of this year, according to his daughter.[1] [1] https://nationalpost.com/news/the-doctors-here-have-the-guts...

Thanks, I edited it. Really sad to see his addiction has really put him through the wringer. I haven't heard him speak since he came out of treatment, in due time I suppose.

Re: Having an alter ego can reduce anxiety, benefit confidence: research

#140
post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you respect someone for sacrificing and fighting for what they think is just? Osama Bin Laden wasn't too different either. Many Islamic terrorists were engineers before sacrificing their careers and fighting for what they believed in. You're right that they are true inspirations to others, but you seem to imply that's a good thing. Gangsters are obviously also a true inspiration to others (hence glamorizati…

> I suspect that what you really mean is Guevara fought for what you think is just. But that's a weaker statement. You might have mistaken me as a supporter of communism. I don't support communism. Osama Bin Laden exploited the religion for his personal gain. His goal is to become the caliph which is roughly equivalent to being the single military leader for entier Islam as said in the quoran. He did not bother about…

And yet, he became a mass murderer that you apparently idolize.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions, but you don't have an excuse.

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