Personal Narrative: A Look At Me

When it comes to what separates me from other teenagers, there would be quite a bit to tell. I would say a major difference which separates me from my peers is my love for barbershop harmony music. I do not have a quartet of my own; however, I love to sing barbershop tags with other friends at church. I set myself apart from the world because of my beliefs: as a New Testament christian, I believe the bible gives us all instruction concerning spiritual matters.

Culture and identity are inextricably linked concepts. Identity is formed by your culture and in turn your identity shapes the respective cultures of the groups you identify with. I belong to many different cultural groups, and my identity is a complex web of competing and conflicting beliefs, experiences, and characteristics. My identity is not only complex, but also dynamic, as the experiences I have change who I am.

One aspect of my identity that has shaped my life experience and the way I see the world is my race. I am an African- American who has Nigerian descent from both parents. Growing up African American is hard for many of us, but we always come together to help each other out. We get judged for our skin color, religion, sexuality, and economic status. When I was younger, I always thought about what other people would say about me and how I looked. Even though it was hard seeing how other races portrayed my race, I have learned to embrace my skin color and not let anybody judge me. The society believes that African Americans are lazy, uneducated, and violent. Things people say about me and my race only make me want to prove myself to them that I am proud of my race and would never change myself for anybody.

My identity product is the card that was put in my baby’s bassinet when she was born. It is pink, it has hearts and stickers my daughter’s and I demographics.

I believe it would be impossible to answer this question without first explaining who my brother is — it is only through him that I have truly found who I am, and the person I want to become.

Identity is what I believe the thing that makes up all human beings. Everybody has an identity, some just aren't as brisk to comprehend what it is or what it means. Identity is generally what someone's traits make up and in my case, I believe I am benevolent, venturesome, and optimistic. Some of the qualities I consider myself to have are not what I would have considered myself to be last year. I believe life lessons that someone undergoes can change their identity and the way they come off drastically.

In my three years of being here I’ve learned so much. Managing time is key. In the beginning I was pretty good at it but as I got better I’ve learned how to better my time. Really in my opinion you can’t teach someone maybe to some extent you can but not really. It has to do with experience with time management you need to fail once or twice before understanding the importance and how much it really does help. In life I’ve always had an easy time with managing my time so this wasn’t much of an issue with me. My career goals have been magnified since being here, realizing that what I want to do in life might actually be my reality. In this day and age not many people can say that. Through the Ferris classes I took here I was able to save fifteen thousand

In this essay I am writing about why I believe people viewed me the way they did. They saw me the way they did because people only see what they want to see. They get these impressions about me based on the way I present myself. For example, I dress appropriately based on the place I’m going, therefor people may think I care about my outward appearance. While at home, I don’t put in any kind of effort in my outward appearance because I know the people around me won’t care much, unless I were to have company over.

Identity is a complex ideal that everyone struggles with. Consequently, people often will not act as who they are due to a fear of being ridiculed. To me this is such a ridiculous time waster, instead this time people waste on being someone else could be used for much more meaningful memories. Society makes people feel like they have to fit a mold, yet I personally have learned from my dad that it is a necessity of life to accept who you are.

These items are not just stuff that you eat or drink,to me they are memories who represent who I am.I use to live with my grandparents when I was little. They always made ramen on the weekends. I will always eat with my cousin and we will always get full. Sometimes my parents and other family members come to eat with us but not all the time. I feel like it brought our family together.Coffee doesn't really sound like its apart of my identity but it is. The reason why is because I started drinking coffee last year that year i was at a different school. When i drink coffee i start to remember the good times i had last year. I had a lot of good moments last year. I always buy coffee after school then i get on the bus and that was always the best part of my days i when i drink coffee i remember going into that bus and how i made a new friend on that bus.

The summer following my senior year in high school, I was called to serve in the, “Virginia Richmond Mission,” for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It was anticipated that I would serve for a period of eighteen months. This was a voluntary decision: one that would require I leave my home, family, and loved ones behind to focus all my time and efforts on serving others and sharing the good word of God. I knew that this experience would have a huge impact on my life and help me to build my character.

There are many ways One’s identity can be defined. Only you can truly define who you are. You control what your experiences and influences make of you. When asked who am I, there could be millions of different answers depending on what you base your identity off of. To me, the question who am I, can only truly be answered in one way. So, who am I? For me, it’s an easy question. I’ve always known that I was the quiet girl In the back of the classroom by herself.

What should you know about me? This is a very hard question for me to answer, but I am going to give it a try, and we will see what we end up with. School isn't necessarily my strongest suit, but I am a very athletic person. At the beginning of the school year I play golf. This year I am the number one varsity golfer. Just a few days after golf ends, I start basketball. Basketball is by far my weakest sport, but I enjoy it because it keeps me in shape for the rest of my sports. After basketball, comes my favorite sport, softball. I play softball for the high school, but I also play softball on a travel league all summer!

From the moment I was born me and my twin sister were always seen as a pair. We did everything together; we had the same friends, we ate the same food, we drove the same car, we were on the same athletic teams. We did everything together for fifteen years. However, one day I decided that I wanted to create my own identity. After playing soccer for ten years on the same team with my twin, I finally decided I was going to do something by myself. I decided to switch over and conquer the game of golf without my sister by my side.

I believe you can achieve anything you want in life with hard work, dedication, and passion. There are many experiences I have gone through that have helped shaped who I am today. I may not have control over certain situations, but I have a choice on how it affects me.