If You Could Be Someone Else, Would You?

I recently came across an article (see references) that gave 21 questions to ask ourselves and decided to use them as writing prompts!

So here’s question #2.

“If you could wake up tomorrow in the body of someone else and assume his or her life, would you do it? If so, who would you pick? What if you’d become the real you again in a month? or a year?”

Wow, this is a loaded question. My initial gut instinct answer is no! But…isn’t that what putting ourselves in someone else’s shoes essentially does? Of course not fully…not in the way that this question asks.

So for the sake of argument (and this article!) let me say, yes, I’d assume someone else’s life. Who would I pick though? That’s a tough one.

I’d probably, selfishly, say, someone that seems to have a prosperous life. Someone I admire like — one of my favourite yoga teachers Yoga with Adriene. It seems like she has a good life — is popular, ‘famous’ etc. (but still a down-to-earth and lovely person) and seems to have a rewarding and fulfilling life.

It would be interesting to literally live life as someone else for a time. It would put things in perspective. It would make me realize (more so than I do already) that we’re all human. We all have challenges and ups and downs. Even if we’re rich and famous (I’m not saying Adriene is rich, but she’s probably pretty comfortable!), we’ll have highs and lows, rewards and losses, tough times and happy times.

So to continue with the other parts of the question: What if you’d become the real you again in a month?

I’d say yeah, why not, give it a try and be someone else for a brief time, no harm, no foul. It might be disappointing to come back to my ‘old’ life again. Like coming back to my life on earth after a Near Death Experience, from what I’ve read, and having to live your ‘normal’ life after experiencing something so vastly different from your norm.

And the last part of the question: What if you’d become the real you again in a year?

That might be tougher to do. Because you’d have gotten used to living as this different person, this different life. Then again you might want to come back to your original/normal life and so when a year is up you might be grateful and relieved. But it would still be an adjustment to come back to your own life after living as someone else for such a long time, I would think! I’d think it would be quite disorienting and discombobulating. You might (probably) require some sort of counselling or therapy to come to terms with the abrupt change in life — especially if you’d chosen the life of someone who is drastically different from your current life!

No matter whose life I’d choose (someone famous, someone wealthy, someone …whatever) when I’d come back to my own life, I think I’d have a totally different perspective on what I could achieve in my life and how I could live my life and it would help me to work toward my goals in life and realize that I could do anything that I put my mind to it — because that’s how anyone gets where they are — with perseverance, passion and persistence!

What about you? What would you do? Would you choose to live someone’s life? If so, who? And for how long? A month? A year? I’d love to hear!