Post: #1

Just curious - if people feel totally different around different people?

I don't just mean different. I mean - I feel like I have created a new persona whenever I interact with people.

When I have gotten to know somebody it is like I have discovered a whole new side to myself that I didn't even know existed. Almost like an impressionist learning a new impression.

I have an excellent memory - so it may be that I just find myself slipping back into the patterns and conversations/behaviours of past interactions? Such that my entire personality around someone is like a collection of long-running jokes which only applies to that one person.

Or it could be that as introvert - I feel the need to put a 'mask' on whenever I deal with people? I am not shy and am very outgoing. Yet at the same time - my preference is to be alone reading books. And as such - I have to make an effort when intereacting with others. And as a result of that, I feel myself being totally different around different people.

It is really odd. It is almost as if I can feel my voice, body and face change by simply closing my eyes and imagining I am in the same room as somebody I have known in the past.

Anyway - I was just wondering if anyone else can relate to this? It is a very vivid thing to me - yet I feel like my closest friends don't understand when I try and explain this.

It is a problem in some ways. Around some people I feel really creative, funny and inspired. And ready to take on the world. And round others I feel totally boring and uninteresting.

And I can go from one to the other within seconds - just by leaving one room to hang out with somebody else in the room next door.

It is pretty odd. Do most people feel 'the same person' around different people? Or is what I describe common? I am not sure if it is since I don't seem to notice it in others. But then again they may not notice it in me...

In someways - I am only ever truly 'myself' on an internet forum. Since it is the closest I get to showing the side of myself which is there when I am totally alone, and not influenced by the people I am around. This is less of a problem for me around my brothers, mum and best friend. Around them I feel alot closer to my 'true' self.

Anyway - I am not one to self-analyse like this usually. But I just wanted to ask about it since I have never seen it discussed.

Post: #2

"In someways - I am only ever 'myself' on an internet forum."

Me too. Its the only place I can be my racist, sexist, homophobic self without it hurting my work or dating prospects...

Post: #3

I guess another problem is that I have only ever met about 7 people who I thought were really interesting, intelligent or funny. So - as such - it could just be that I put on 'a mask' around people so that I can be polite to them - with accidentally revealing what I truly think of them.

There could be something in that - since now that I think about it - I only ever feel comfortable around other people who are very interesting/smart/funny. Not that I am saying I am any of those things. It is just that I feel like you can truly be yourself around such people, without having to 'slow down' to let the others catch up.