Personal Narrative: Fitting In

Identity is a very in depth topic that explores someone’s inner self, simply putting it; identity is what makes you the way that you are. I have honestly never pondered this question in such depth. So receiving this essay, it was bittersweet, I have never pondered this question before, but on the other hand, being the age that I am it is important to understand my identity so this is a good opportunity to do so. While pondering this question, I have found that my identity consists of different elements that contribute to who I am. These elements include my religion, my character traits, talents, environment, and my aspirations and my passions. These elements influence the choices I make that strengthen and broaden my identity.

Like any other school there were the “cool” kids and the “not-so-cool” kids and like most people I longed for the feeling of fitting in. I tried so hard to buy the right clothes and to talk the right way. I became so caught up in my own life that I did not take a second to stop and think of someone other than myself. Last year, in eight grade, I had the chance to be apart of the “it” group, but during that time I lost myself. Peer pressure had pushed me into a corner where I was unable to think for myself and as a result I lost my ability to establish my character.

I never thought I would be labeled an outsider, a misfit even. As I trudged my way through the halls of my small town high school, I would endure the gazing pairs of eyes, that belonged to my peers, followed by whispering and often times some laughter. I always used zone out during those repetitive speeches and commercials about the effects of gossiping and rumors; never did I imagine that one day I would be on the receiving end of of the everyday potshot. Growing up I was always the center of attention, the one everyone yearned to be friends with, never was I the antisocial child in the corner with nowhere to turn… not until high school. They say high school changes you. They say high school accounts for some of the greatest years of

It is a somewhat unspoken agreement that people all have, and breaking this agreement is frowned upon. The bathroom is a very unsocial place. You go do your business and then leave, it is very simple. The social norm that I broke was talking to someone in the stall next to me, and continuing to have a conversation even when it was clear they did not want to have one.

They called me an apple. Since I was supposedly red on the outside, but white on the inside, I was automatically a walking bullseye. Being one of the many oppressed Aboriginals, I understand their need to hurt someone else in an effort to release some of their internal pain. I understand why so many give up or turn into raging alcoholics in an effort to numb their pain. Coming from a reservation, my greatest challenge was proving to everyone that all the stereotypes about my people were fallacious. However, the need for a government and an education system that won’t keep on failing us repeatedly is imperative. The only way that I can make my voice heard is to break these stereotypes and to reach a higher education; hence my application for

As I transitioned from elementary school to middle school, I have always heard about everyone trying to fit in. For me, I too have experienced trying to fit in. While others tried to fit in by buying the trendiest clothes, listening to the latest music or playing the newest games, I thought I could fit in by just going along with everything people said. However, because of this, in the long run, I began to lose myself.

I chose to break the norm of either smiling at strangers or giving them a neutral look when you make eye contact. I decided to give every stranger I passed a confused look like they had just spoken to me in another language. I must admit, this made me feel a bit goofy. I was on the fence as to whether or not to do this in the first place but I decided I just had to. The responses I received were quite comical. A few people asked if I was alright, and one person even asked if I had a problem with them.

My conformed profile is ISTP; which means that in both work and school I'm a person who's difficult to get to know well, due to the 'walls' that I used to circle myself with; keeping my time and energy out of everyone's hand, which causes me to be prejudged by others, most of times, before they get to know me better, in both of work and school, people think that I'm not interested in their life or in their talks, which is a totally true, but absolutely not out of disrespect, simply because I can't force myself to care, and I am not that good with pretending to want to hear everyone's story and what did they have for breakfast. The more people around me, the more powerless I become, and to be fair; I don't put all of the people that I know on

What is identity? The definition as a person’s own sense of whom they are, which their past define them. Identity is very important in our society, no matter your social status. I can attach identity to belonging to something or place. As human race, we feel the need to belong to a group or place. Because belonging to a group or place, give us the sense of identity.

First impressions always matter when attending a new school. New schools are also a new start; as a result, it is always hard to try to see if you naturally fit in. Trying to fit in may be difficult may be hard for some kid, but fitting in never truly matters as long as you have the right friends. If you just stay unique instead of being worried about fitting in then you will fit in your own way.

How does one define their identity? What are the most important things in life to you? Many cannot answer this question. It’s a problem many people face and try to find a solution to. Everyone is born into different cultures, families and even communities, but how we define our identity is from our personal attributes, our skills and abilities that we possess and even our interests and hobbies. If there’s something about you that you believe defines you in a big way, this could be considered your identity. Our identities are a complex interworking of genetics, our cultural and familial upbringing, spirituality, social circles, personal choice and taste, our community, as well as many other traits. I have an identity that specifically pertains to me. It’s been forming ever since the day I’ve been born and

Brown skin, brown eyes, dark hair, these are the first things people subconsciously notice about me. As a Latina growing up in the United States I have always struggled to find balance in my identity; either I am too Latina or not Latina enough. This mentality kept me from embracing my Latina heritage and being myself.

What defines me is my drive to help people, and the adrenaline and mental high I get from doing it. I can accredit this to my Aunt Rhonda who was a Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) During my early childhood. I remember her letting me sit on her lap after she got back from a long weekend of volunteering, and me marveling over her stories of the shift. By the time I got to elementary school, I had started carrying extra band-aids in my backpack so as to save the life of a possible wounded classmate. When I got into middle school, I was familiar with the first responder standards of care and had my own basic medical bag. I spent my weekends reading “Grey's Anatomy” and watching endotracheal intubation demonstrations on youtube instead of doing my homework. But everything I

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.

It was August and school was just around the corner. I was going to be a freshman that year. It wouldn’t be too bad if I hadn’t just moved to the west side of Cleveland. Once again, I was going to be a new kid, but I guess we all were because we were freshmen. Later I found out that the school I would be attending, John Marshall High School, was a 9th grade academy. They separated us from the upperclassmen because the High School wasn’t big enough. Construction workers were in the process of building the new high school that year, so that grades 9-12 could be together. We were placed in an old middle school, it sucked! I wanted the real high school experience, but in this situation, I still felt like a child.