Perfection: A Mirror Of Personal Identity

Christensen had an English teacher her freshman year of high school that had caused her embarrassment when she a differing pronunciation of the word “lawyer”.From then on, Christensen would over analyze everything she would say. As minor as her experience may have been, it caused her to developed a complex regarding her verbal communication. This complex remained with her through the years and later impacted her teaching methods.

In his book, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, Goffman (1959) focuses on the self as a staged production in which people actively present themselves to different audiences one encounters. To bolster his conceptualization, Goffman used an interesting metaphor of “all the world’s a stage” (1959, 254). This, he terms as a “dramaturgical approach” (Goffman 1959, 240) in which an actor puts on a show for others; drawing analogies between human behaviors and the theater. Goffman (1959) likens the individual to an actor on stage performing for and with other individuals involved in the situation. Three types of space exist for the actor to perform on, to enact the self, and to interact with others: the front stage, the backstage, the outer region. Goffman (1959) utilizes specific dramaturgical terms such as performance, teams, front and back regions, sign-vehicles, and highlights the process of dramatic realization. These terms will be discussed in the following sections.

In presenting a theory about myself as a leader, I will attempt to draw conclusions about my strengths and weakness as a leader based on the things learned in this class. I will speculate on a reflective leadership best-self-portrait through my work experiences that draw on my interpersonal resources for vision. Recognizing my talents and shortcomings will help develop both micro and macro levels of resource development needed to reach my full potential.

It’s been three hours while I sit here and stare at the blinking bar, symbolizing the fact that I have nothing. My page is blank, but I promise you, my thoughts are not. Thousands of ways to start this essay have run through my mind, but none of them are sufficient. Which, I suppose, is where I will begin. Perfectionism, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is, “a disposition to regard anything short of perfection as unacceptable” (“Perfectionism”). It is a trait that numerous people might regard as desirable or something to be proud of; a word used to describe oneself on a resume to impress employers. However, I see it much differently. Perfectionism is a fight for something unobtainable, a cyclical trap in which disappointment reigns, and

More often than not the human race finds itself dispirited and lacking the necessary confidence to live life to the fullest. An average job, strange personality, or an excessive amount of self-consciousness can make a huge dent in the average person's confidence. However, former pro wrestler Mike Kinney would argue that “you are more than you think you are.” The strange and unique traits someone possesses can be seen as a confidence killer, or they can be “turned up” to transform yourself into the better version of you. Mike Kinney creates a highly effective argument through the strong use of pathos, his vibrant character, and his undoubted credibility.

The bell rang for second period statistics and everyone frantically discussed their exhilarant weekends and rustled in their seats. Focused, I eagerly flipped back and forth between notes attempting to solve the problem on the board when a particularly blunt comment caught my attention a few desks in front of me. “Why are you wearing a girl backpack?”, a female classmate playfully exclaimed to another male classmate from across the room. My teeth clenched as a million thoughts raced through my head and I felt the muscles in my face creating an alarmed reaction. The male student argued back boldly, “It’s not a girl back pack!” I placed both hands on my forehead and closed my eyes for a few moments. They disputed over the backpack for a lengthy thirty-seconds before the teacher strolled around the room checking homework.

I have always assumed that being a perfectionist was a good thing. From an early age I became enchanted with the “Charlie Sheen mentality;” I had to be “winning,” or at least convince myself that I was. An internal voice encouraged me to be the best that I could be, and failure, quite simply, was not in my vocabulary. However, as I prepared to enter high school, my innate desire to be a perfectionist truly acted as the anchor that slowly weighed me down. I learned that perfection was undeniably unattainable in my life; my devotion to “perfectionism” led me astray on a long, twisting path of deceit. I occupied my time with unchallenging schoolwork and “cheated the system” by electing to compete in the baseball league designed for kids a full year younger than me. As it turns out, trying to be a big fish in a little pond was the way I insulated myself from failure, the way I falsely convinced myself that I was “winning.” I was afraid to try, or rather I was afraid of the possibility that I might try and fail. Attempting something difficult carried the risk of not succeeding, and with it the implication that

In “ Mirror Image” by Lena Coakley Alice the main character no longer feels that her identity and personality are the same after her procedure,until she meets with Mr.Jarred. Lena coakley shows this in the story when Alice feels like everything is different on the outside of her body than before,she feels like she stepped into a whole new world, Alice knows that her family has not been supportive of her new body since she came home from the hospital,all her family cares about is how different she looks and they do not care how it affects her, alice ends up bumping into Mr.Jarred on the street he is able to help her figure out that she is still the same old girl she was before and not Gail Mr.Jarred’s daughter who died and donated her body

I grew tired of being homely, of the arrows, of being punctured with words that were, supposedly, meant to leave me unharmed. The condensed circle of friends and family I developed, constantly insisted that I am no less than an extraordinary human being. They continued the pestering, yet I stood unyielding convinced I would never be better than the dirt that's walked on. It must have been their persistence that led to the realization: beautiful things grow within the dirt, relying on its nutrients to grow strong and great. I was more valuable as a human than a target, yet instead, a fighter. In order to win against the enemies, to no longer be a victim, I needed to first fight the battle within my own mind before progressing to tackle outer defenses. Confidence has been the inflexible trait to fix, rather than the higher resilient features such as activeness or originality. In time, the laborious work and constant battles paid off. I had learned to have my own confidence, trust myself, and notice an inner beauty, despite the fact it had taken an autoimmune disease, friends, and self

The power of self-doubt and self-confidence is equal as compelling in strength. It’s just a matter of which force has the stronger pull on one’s mind. Throughout high school, I’ve always doubted my abilities and intelligence by comparing myself to others. They must’ve been born with the gift of ingenuity, while I born with a deficit of it. Eventually, the envy of how some peoples’ brains acquired knowledge boiled and poisoned my thoughts. My mind was polluted with the idea that I was not capable of such gift. However, that all changed because of one woman who poured all of her encouragement and faith into me. She was the panacea of my toxic conviction and taught me that it was a matter of perception and hard work and self-confidence.

It is much better to be your authentic self, but be hated, than to be fake, but loved by all. Take something complicated and confusing and make it warm and comforting, so it can protect you from other people’s judgement. Watch people succumb to madness with much encouragement. Let them look at you with disapproval, and then disapprove their disapproval by inviting them to be an outcast. Be fine with being on your own despite society thinking it is “uncool”, or join all of the other blind followers foolishly trying to conform.

In the article “‘Too Terribly Good to Be Printed’: Charlotte Gilman’s ‘The Yellow Wallpaper,’” Conrad Shumaker explains the genius of “The Yellow Wallpaper” and how its themes reflect the patriarchal society of the time period. Shumaker identifies one theme as the detriment of suppressing the narrator’s sense of self and that “by trying to ignore and repress her imagination, in short, John eventually brings about the very circumstance he wants to prevent” (590). John confines his wife in a yellow “nursery” in order to “cure” her of her illness, banning her from writing and discouraging her imagination. His plan backfires when her mind, unable to find a proper outlet, latches onto the yellow wallpaper that eventually drives her to madness. Another theme that Shumaker points out is that the dynamic of a domineering husband and an obedient wife is a cage that the narrator is desperately trying to free herself from. John constantly dismisses the narrator’s opinions and thoughts and insists that he knows what is best for her. Shumaker points out that the husband, a representation of the patriarchal society, is clearly depicted as the villain and that he “attempts to ‘cure’ her through purely physical means, only to find he has destroyed her in the process” (592). At the end of the story, because of her confinement and inability to express herself, the narrator fully descends into insanity, “escaping” the

Ela Boyd is an artist who creates immersive interactive installations. Born in Hollywood, California she holds a BFA from the California College of Arts and an MFA from University of California San Diego Visual Art. She currently lives and works in London,UK. Through her work she explores the nature of being through time, space, and consciousness. Rejecting the conventional notion of an image but rather as an “instant of apprehension”.

During my typical teenage years up until only just a few years ago, I engaged in the usual defense mechanisms of artificial confidence, hiding my insecurities and holding in my emotions both to protect my self-image and eliminate judgments from others. I wasn’t ready to reveal my true self on the basis that people might use that information to hurt or better yet, to destroy me.

SIMS is a fan favorite video game, where an avatar can be created that is the ideal version of oneself. The avatar can marry, have a family, land a dream job, and if the individual is so inclined, the avatar can even kill. As SIMs demonstrates, humans can currently create avatars to do out bidding, to behave as some aspect of the individual’s personality wishes it could do. While this creative process is limited to video games, the theoretical process suggests that an alternative or parallel reality exists where an individual can live through another person, in a separate field from his or her actual physical being. In this other reality, the individual can be who he or she wants to be and behave however they choose, with the goal of living out their most intimate desires, good or bad. Such is the plot of Being John Malkovich, whereby Craig, a puppeteer who lives his fantasies through his puppets, ultimately finds a portal that allows him to live through and control the actor, John Malkovich. Panopticism is a central theme in Being John Malkovich; Panopticism is a mechanism for gaining power and keeping it, where criminals who are constantly under surveillance, internalize fear and involuntarily take into their mind the concepts of the authority figure. Such a mechanism allows power to easily by disseminated without being weakened. Being John Malkovich demonstrates the idea of panopticism by portraying the loss of security for free will and individual thinking. This is