#identity-performance

#identity-performance

I have never been more self-assured in life than I am now at 38. Every relationship in my lifefeels more secure with each waking day. I make more choices for myself now than I ever have,and I care far less about pleasing others than I ever did. But I still regularly pretend to be someone else - possibly even daily. Like Stephen, my formative years were spent playing a completely different character.

When you picture Santa Claus, a white, bearded, overweight and jolly man who dashes around delivering gifts to children during the Christmas season probably comes to mind. Yet, not everyone who dons the red suit fits this stereotype. That's what Bethany Cockburn, Borbala Csillag and I learned when we teamed up to study professional Santas. For our study, we looked into how these professional Santas were able to "be" Santa, even if they didn't fully fit the image.