Now that i've started getting mail with my new last name on it, it's sunk in that I will never again be 'my former self'', so to speak.
I'm the same person, of course. But my name is forever changed. I wanted to change my name, and i'm not regretting my decision, it's just strange that officially, my name will be something other than the name I was born with.
How much of your identity is tied to a name, do you think? If you were to wake up tomorrow and say, 'Screw Rachel. I'm gonna be Cassandra!', would you feel any different once you'd changed your name?
Not exactly the same scenario, I realize, since i'm talking about last names...
I get nostalgic in a sense - If someone saw my name on paper, they wouldn't assume I was part of my family because my name is different from theirs. There's almost a small sense of loss over a name that was mine. In a way, it still is my name, nobody else will have it (well, odds are someone in the world has the same name, but it's unlikely i'd meet them), I just go by a different name now.
It's been an adjustment in changing my signature and introducing myself with my new last name and not my former last name. I've been using the same name and signature for my whole life until November 2011 and it is so hard changing something you've been doing a certain way for so long!
I'll get used to it, though! Just some thoughts.
