Is Recreation the key?

In "Death of an Innocent" Chris McCandless completely recreated himself as Alex Supertramp.  While he was completely comfortable with changing his name and life style one must ask a few questions.  Why did he go that far to call himself by a different name, and is he happy with what he has done.  You can clearly see with him that he is happy with his decisions, but with someone else that chooses to go through a recreation like that will have several questions to ask themselves.  Why did they do it? are they happy with who they are? How long before they change back to who they once were?  I feel like recreation of ones self is a way of erasing the past instead of learning from the past and changing to how people react in certain situations. I have thought of changing myself several times but in the end did not end up going through with it because of several reasons.  I look at myself and see who I am as a person and believe that if i made it this far I can learn to adapt so I can react in different situations or surroundings.  It takes a committed person to both successfully recreate their selves as well as stay the way they are.  People do change but it's how much the person changes which should be taken into consideration.