How to reinvent yourself!

Most people who say they have "reinvented themselves," haven't really changed their basic essence, but they have often taken time to figure out "who they really are," so they can live life by "responding" to it, rather than "reacting" to it. You "are who you are," in the sense that your basic temperament is pretty fixed. However-- for any number of reasons-- you may be going through life following ideas that were never really YOURS (family or peer pressure, or manipulative relationships might cause this), so you can "reinvent" your life by changing your thinking about yourself. If you "never really liked" working at the bank, living in the city, dating arrogant yuppies... you can certainly move to the country, work for a vet and date a carpenter if that's actually closer to what's in your heart. And you can DO that, no matter if you family and friends think you're completely nuts. Remember, most people around you are very "invested" in you staying reliably who you are now. To outside observers, such changes certainly look like "reinventing yourself." I speak from experience, because I have done it. Twice.

I do not think it's possible to completely reinvent oneself. Your true self, the core of who you are will stay with you. I do think it's possible to change a lot in your life. You can change your interests, style, hobbies, way to talk, way to act etc. It's certainly possible to get rid of bad habbits and addictions. I do think that all the changes we make are a part of a process. You cannot change everything in one go. It has to be done step by step, and be worked at over time.