Although I was born as Allison, I've always been referred to as Allie for as long as I can remember. My parents decided to name me Allie because my mom's favorite actress was Ali Macgraw, who starred in the movies Love Story (1970) and The Getaway (1972). My mom was stuck on that name, so my dad had little choice but to agree. When I was first born, my close family all called me Allie, however in pre-school my mom wanted me called Allison. This did not sit well with me at all, as when I started Kindergarten I demanded all my teachers call me Allie. My rationale for this was my neighbor down the street was in fifth grade (WOAH big girl!) and I thought she was the coolest person ever. Her name was Allison, but she went by Allie. Desiring to be as cool as my neighbor Allie, I would never let anyone get away with calling me Allison ever again.
When I think back on living with my name, my mind jumps to polar opposite positive and negative correlations in terms of nicknames. I think of when I was little, my best friend's dad would always call me "Alligator." This makes me feel positive and vibrant flashbacks to my childhood since my memories at their house, other than being called Alligator, consists of ice cream and trampolines. I also have absolutely and utterly horrifying memories with my name, all thanks to Coach Edwards. Coach Eds calls me "Al," and every time I hear that, my mind jumps to freshman year, when he would petrify me screaming "AL!" on the soccer field, proceeded with a long talk that would most likely leave me in tears as he rambled off all the ways I messed up. What lovely memories!
I believe that my name suits me very well. I like how my name isn't so exotic that people question it on the first day of class, however it isn't so common that I am constantly getting mixed up with other people. According to Urban Dictionary, "An Allie is a girl who can always put a smile on your face. She'll make you laugh, and enchant you with her beautiful smile. She's a clumsy girl, but that just adds to her charm. If Allie wants something, she'll get it." When I read this, I couldn't help but laugh because anyone who is remotely close to me will know that every phrase of this is true. I definitely come with a sense of humor, and most of the time that humor comes from laughing at myself and my clumsiness. I like to think I enchant people with my beautiful smile, but I guess that is up for you to decide. In terms of "if Allie wants something, she'll get it," I will just reference one example: I begged for a cat for three years, and here I am, typing this blog, sitting next to Boobeary, my cat.
When I think about a time of "being two" in my life, my mind jumps to my personality versus my lifestyle. As alluded to in my previous paragraph, my personality entails a whole lot of humor, very little seriousness, and a lot of "YOLO" moments. This leads everyone's first impression of me to be that I am a very carefree, yet fun person. However, this somewhat competes with my lifestyle. When people get to know me better, they understand that my mind is always in fifty places at once, and I'm always doing something. I often find myself drowning in schoolwork, working out hectically, or driving slightly over the speed limit to get to soccer in time. This creates a comparison of my personality and my actual lifestyle because although I try to come off as that "fun" girl, my life is actual full of long nights doing homework and not enough time for a social life. I think this has led me to a personal battle of constantly trying to live out my personality so society is more accepting of me, when in reality I get stuck in my given lifestyle that blocks me often times from doing this. This portrays the bigger dilemma our culture faces today of society pressing people, especially teenagers, to be one perfect image. We see this on social media, as young girls are communicating one version of themselves on their page, while most likely living out another, less "picture-perfect", version of themselves offline. Overall, I think that everyone is faced with two versions of themselves that are in constant battle with one another in life, whether that battle is apparent or not.
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