Why Did You Choose That Username And/Or That Avatar (Or No Avatar At All)?

[Lady of Longbourn]

I feel that way too Marlene. Less questions too.

 

[EmptyEyes]

I've heard the comments from ex girlfriends or just friends in general that I have sad and empty eyes when they look into them. Kind of played off of that comment.

 

[Lady of Longbourn]

I know the feeling. I can't stand looking into my eyes. Its frightening.

 

[cat]

The reason for my username is quite simple really.
When I registered my cat was the only constant in my life, we'd moved house & were feeing scared & lonely. When I'm having a bad day she is constantly at my side.

 

[midi]

Mine is a short form for a name meaning Middle Path - something to strive for. My real name - my parents used to call out a short form of it like I was a dog - so I tried in vain for years to get people to call me by the full first name, but whenever friends would call, my mother/father would Correct them. Neither one of them ever addressed me how I preferred, just to show they still had control. Also got a First Nations name, which a friend picked out by accident and it's great.

 

[amethist]

I chose my forum name because it represents some of what I do to help my husband, but it has an I in it instead of a Y because I like to be different, never one to follow the crowd even when I was young.

I sometimes change my avatar if I see one that appeals to me at the time, this one is I am using now is a Native American Dream Catcher I found when having a nosey around for something unusual, being a mixture of purples and lilacs it also matched my forum name.

I am also a member of another small and friendly web site, there my name has a reason for the choice, as well as my avatar. Maybe let you all into a few more secrets about me one day. :wink: They are all for the good of my family.

Amethist

 

[AthenaErdmann]

My username comes from Lewis Carroll's book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland ... PTSD makes me feel in a sense like Alice in Wonderland ... I'm constantly searching to answer questions and find understanding of what happened to me.

I currently have the sunflower avatar because sunflowers ... follow the sun.

"Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow. It's what sunflowers do." ~ Helen Keller

Thank you, Curiouser, that was beautiful and inspirational.

I can relate to that Alice in Wonderland feeling. This last week I've lost count how many times I've thought or said either "Stop the world, I wanna get off!" or "Where is the emergency exit from my own head?!"

Athena

 

[AthenaErdmann]

My parents gave me that name and I've never liked it. Maybe because it was the butt of jokes growing up...I don't know. There's a lot of issues for me with my first and middle names.

I'm sorry to hear that, and I can relate. Have you ever thought of changing your name(s)? I know that is not an optimal solution for everybody, I was just wondering if you had considered it.

My married name is so precious to me because it gave me a whole new start in life with a wonderful person.

Me, too! I remember with total clarity filling in the forms just before we stepped in for the ceremony, and all of my insides were dancing something indescribably arrhythmic. "No more [old name] - a new beginning! I visibly belong to something constructive now."

Thanks for sharing!

Athena

 

[cherryblossom]

An old boyfriend (who died) used to call me Blossom. I never really found out why, it just sort of happened, I suppose. I hate winter and often seem to be more depressed when the weather is cold, wet, rainy and dark. I like to see the blossom on the trees as it is the start of spring, and hopefully / maybe better times ahead. In China I think the cherryblossom represents feminine beauty, while the Japanese use it to symbolise the fragility of life because of it's short flowering time. I don't have any asian connections, but both of these symbols seemed quite apt at the time (and still do).

When I first joined the forum, we had very limited avatars here, so I don't think I had an avatar to begin with. A member then added a whole lot of 'fairy' avatars, and I adopted a pink fairy, in line with the colour of cherryblossom. When I joined 'PTSD Space' I used photoshop to design an avatar, using a picture of cherryblossom and a fairy and the name. Recently, the size of the avatars here was increased, so I use the same picture here, although the picture is still a little too small to see the fairy properly.

I suppose my name and the avatar have both evolved over time. It's actually quite nice to be reminded of why I chose the name, especially since these days I tend to shorten it to CB!

 

[Marlene]

I'm sorry to hear that, and I can relate. Have you ever thought of changing your name(s)? I know that is not an optimal solution for everybody, I was just wondering if you had considered it.

I thought about it, but...after 42 years of it, it is part of me. My maiden name is very unusual and I used to take pride in that and a famous relative and all that crap. Now it's just a reminder of my father and brother.

Amazing how a word can have so much power.

Lisa

 

[Jagged Angel]

My name comes from the dedication in my mother's doctoral thesis. She dedicated it to me, and said that I was the one who showed her the dark, the light and the jagged. The avatar is from Getty Free Images website, and appealed to me. It's a bit dark, and yet beautiful. It also shows the person as having no features, just the silhouette, and I feel this is a good representation of who I am - a shadow, someone who exists, but isn't really there.

This is not the only place I use the Jagged Angel thing - Jagged also has a Facebook account (add me if you like), writes Harry Potter fan fiction, and takes part in a website called Cracked. the same image is used... so essentially, Jagged is my online persona.

 

[Nicolette]

My married name is so precious to me because it gave me a whole new start in life with a wonderful person.

I feel the same Lisa and I HATE it when people still use my pre-marriage name as it is linked to my ex-husband who I detest. It even bugs me that people still send me emails with the profile name set as my previous surname name. I haven't made an issue about it but it really bugs me and sometimes I have to stop myself from asking them to change it.

In terms of the question my user name is my real name and my avatar is that I wish I was like Tinkerbell......having fun, making dreams come true, be able to help people and be filled with her innocence. I hate all the inside struggles and wish I could 'magically make them disappear'.