Not one person is like the other. Ranging from different appearances, to morals, to lifestyles people are living dissimilar lives. Interestingly though, these various lives cannot be replicated by anyone else. Every person seen walking down the street has their own story, something that sets them apart from the rest of the millions of people in the world. Whether that is from being faced with different hardships, opportunities or times of change each individual has their own accounts that are unique. However, these individual stories contribute in defining who a person is. Coming from diverse upbringings, cultures, values and goals there are a surplus of traits that influence the individualism of one’s identity. Unfortunately, too often there is failure to listen or recognize that each person has a unique story waiting to be heard. Understanding the way family, ethnic backgrounds, morals and goals mold a person can provide insight to how distinctive each individual is. By taking the time to listen what is important to a person can provide insight to how they identify themself. And in the process unravel a truly extraordinary story. Due to the curiosity of learning more about other’s stories, I decided to sit down and have coffee with my really good friend Alexa. While Alexa and I share many common interests like most friends do, we come from entirely different worlds. Born in China and adopted at the age of two into a native French family, Alexa has been exposed to two
The building blocks of personal identities begin at birth. Parents and teachers are a major influence on one’s identity. They teach the individual the basic morals, knowing right from wrong. However, some individuals do not have the benefit of parental or teacher’s guidance, and this results in a stunted personality, which negatively affects these individuals’ sense of identity. In some circumstances, these
Our identity is comprised of inner qualities and outer representations of self. It consists of innumerable defining characteristics that make up the whole of who we are in any given moment. These fragments of self include our sexuality, gender, and sense of belonging to a particular culture, nation, religion, family, or some other group. Our identity includes our looks, personality, beliefs and fears. Each individual in society assigns themselves a particular role, whether it be as a mother, brother, retiree, performer, sportsman or as a part of their occupation, a doctor or lawyer. Often one’s entire sense of self is consumed by
Identity-“Ones personal qualities.”Identiy is something only he or she can fully define. My uncle says I am affectionate,cheerful, and calm. My grandmother sees me as slim, pretty and sweet. My dad described me as perky, cheerful and happy, my mom says beautiful, gentle, and self-conscious. These adjectives describe me accurately, yet they are only abstract versions of me. Adjectives cannot begin to describe me and I aknowlege these descriptions for what they are, a condensed translation from my outward self to the world. It is impossible for anyone to understand me completely because nobody has experienced the things I have. My mother has never cherished a raggedy doll named Katie and my father never
Outside influences have a strong capability to influence and alter our personal identity. Both directly and indirectly, the social contexts in which we live can change the way we think and feel, and by extension how we interact with other people and places. Immediate family, friendship groups and the physical environment are all factors which contribute to our ever changing perceptions of ourselves. Sometimes personal identity can be subtly reshaped over a gradual time frame, as our sense of who we are is modified without personal recognition that we are changing. At other times we may be able to notice our personal identity changing, through important life decisions.
There are many factors that shape us into who we are, and who we will become. Some of these factors we can control, while others we cannot. While we are born into many traits of our identities, much of our other behavior is learned. My identity, for example, is “based not only on responses to the question ‘Who am I?’ but also on responses to the question ‘Who am I in relation to others?’” (Allen, 2011, p. 11). My identity and the question of who I am, are both influenced by many aspects of my life, including my hometown, my family, my friends, and my beliefs and moral values.
Interactions between people are never ending. The effects of one conversation could affect the outcome of that person’s life, consequently changing their identity completely. There comes a time, though, when dealing with others confident in their identities, where one must ask themselves the personal question of “who am I?”. No matter if you’ve just stumbled upon this question, in the process of discovering the answer, consistently changing your answer, or confident in your answer, the people around you are the ones you have to thank for molding your personal identity.
Every human that has stepped foot on this earth has had a different story. No story is identical, no story is exact, no story is perfect. No one has ever read a book that was exactly alike by two completely different authors. Now why do you think that is? Why is everyone so unique? It is because we are each born in different settings or environments. Our families, homes, and communities shape who we are, because no one is born a certain way… Rather, we each live a different way.
Understanding one's own personal identity can help to shape a stronger sense of self and develop empathy for
Stephen Covey once said, “Strength lies in differences, not in similarities.” Everyone on Earth has their variations. Those differences are essential to one’s distinctiveness. What exactly makes us “different”? I am Maurice Lee, Jr., and I believe my heritage, scholarship, special interest, and ambition make me different. Friday, October 8th, 1999, 9:48 P.M., in Savannah, Georgia was my arrival on Earth. There I was, a five pound, two ounce bundle of joy born to Katina Lee and Maurice Lee, Sr.
A person’s identity is shaped by many different aspects. Family, culture, friends, personal interests and surrounding environments are all factors that tend to help shape a person’s identity. Some factors may have more of an influence than others and some may not have any influence at all. As a person grows up in a family, they are influenced by many aspects of their life. Family and culture may influence a person’s sense of responsibilities, ethics and morals, tastes in music, humor and sports, and many other aspects of life. Friends and surrounding environments may influence a person’s taste in clothing, music, speech, and social activities. Personal interests are what truly set individuals apart. An individual is not a puppet
Our identity can sometimes be shaped by the way others see us. As we have seen, the way in which others view us can have some sort of impact on how we see ourselves. There are also other contributing factors such as our years of adolescence, the basic human need of wanting to belong and maturing; all play an equally important part in the forming of our character and who we are. On balance it appears that there is not only one influence in the shaping of our identity, but there are many.
Identity refers to structured sense of self, which manipulates itself in threads of life (Burr, 2015). Figure 1 of Tūrangawaewae shows individuals identity can be classified under our age, our gender (male or female), the values and beliefs we share (religious or non- religious), the experiences ( good or bad), the people we surround ourselves with (friends and family), also not limited to, from our genetic inheritance (ancestors or parents). However, identity threads are not pre inherited but are pre-constructed idea influenced by social experiences (Kahu, 2015). I am a woman, 21 years of age, Christian by faith, Fijian Indian by ethnicity. I use mind set of goals to convey through my identity. For example, excelling
In general we differentiate between two “kinds” of identity. On the one hand there is the so called social identity, which stresses self-interpretation as a member of a certain social group and on the other hand there is the personal identity, which puts it´s emphasis on individuality and distinctiveness. This distinction is widely known as “patchwork-identity”. Both identities are only a subgroup of many different subjectively interpreted identities that everyone of us has innate.
In most case, identity is shaped by culture. Since culture is a set of ideals life practices, routines and attitudes set up by a certain community hence culture plays a major role in shaping the identity of an individual. An individual’s character and attributes can be because of their background. This is due to the set up that one has grown up (Dumas 19). People tend to learn more about their culture, and as they grow up it becomes part of them. They embrace the culture’s beliefs and tend to do things following the set routines. The aspect of following the set routine and beliefs play a significant part in shaping the identity of an individual.
Our autobiographical narratives also support the construction of identity, by using cultural models of self narration as well as drawing on our own experiences, who we associate with, when and where, all have an impact on how we tell our stories (Hewitt, 2007). This serves in understanding how identities are fluid and are always changing from situation to situation, an aspect which anyone from the psychosocial school of thought