I'm a true believer in that situations allow you to have different selves. We allow or hinder our actions and words in certain situations. This is kind of like how Ulmer says the bar is a place with a particular atmosphere that allows people to do things they wouldn't normally do.

I believe that through certain situations, we learn more about ourselves (i.e. how we react to certain things). And in learning about ourselves, we project the type of image that we want to create. For instance, if we regret doing something, we will be embarassed, apologetic, etc. We wouldn't want our actions that led to that regret to be part of our image; it may have been out-of-the-ordinary and could only have happened in the context of the situation.

Our image depends on our current state of mind. Sure, there are aspects of our image that we always want to hold true--characteristics of our personality that stick with us all of our lives. But we all go through stages of life, and we create a certain image of ourselves to get ourselves through those stages.

I, for one, am going through a lot right now. Among these stresses, I just recently broke up with my boyfriend of over 2.5 years. Part of this reason is my realization of my potential--my power and my future. Every now and then, I get a taste of what the real world is like (i.e. on business trips) and I project myself in that scenerio and atmosphere. I want to do things alone and go on a journey through this "self-discovery" (such a cliche thing to say) period of my life. When you're in a relationship for so long, you end up losing yourself--somewhat of your image--because you are in a duo that acts as one entity.

Thus, I am in a new stage/period in my life where I am trying to find out the image that I hold and where I fit in my life.