The Idea Of Knowing Who I Am

It was in middle school where I lost my identity; it was crushed and altered by strangers full of judgments and opinions. I was a stain on a white shirt, my flaws easily visible. Transitioning from middle school terrified me. The thought of new strangers teasing filled me with fear. Theater arts, in a span of four years, transformed me into the confident woman I am now. The discovery of art was like entering a world specifically created for me. Confidence and self-actualization embody me like a suit of armor giving me powers that made all the negativity disappear.

My identity has been formed over the course of my life, especially throughout my pre-teen years, in 2012, when my parents decided to split, and my mother went off to live with in Bristol. I have become a completely different person from when I was ten years old, because of the people in my life, such as my teachers, my parents, and my friends. I feel as though I have become a more well-rounded person, because of my experiences.

In the past few years, I have often thought that I have learned a great deal about who I am. I have grown much since middle school and have

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.

As time passes and deadlines approach, a certain question seemed to constantly come to mind, “who am i?”. I never took the time to ask myself this question, but as my senior year slowly comes to an end, and the time to plan out my future is here, the question arose. It's difficult to find time to ask myself this question, and even more difficult to find the answer with so many other things circling my mind, especially around this time in the year. But in order to get to where I am now, I had to get to know myself first.

You cannot know who you are, and you never will. Some people think they know a lot about who they are, but that person is forever changing, that thing they are. Saying you know who you are can affect the way you act, because you try to be what you think is yourself, instead of the forever changing you. This can go on to affect you both mentally and relationally, both looping back and forth.

Who I am? Personally, I believe that a person’s identity can take only one of two routes. One, a person’s identity can change within that person’s life. Who I am now, is not necessarily who I was when I was younger. Experience can and will likely modify our identities. Therefore, experience can solidify our personal identification or it can weaken our personal identification. And as such, individuals and their perspectives are always evolving, or at the very least, they should evolve over time. Although there are some identities that evolve throughout one’s lifetime; there are some identities that remain consistent. Two, some identities cannot and will not change. So identities are socially and/or politically forces upon you, some identities are genetically assigned to you, and some you choose to keep. No matter the reason or reasons, these identities have been and will be consist within your lifespan. But, how you deal with them is up to you as an individual.

The question “How do you identify yourself?” that was once arbitrary asked of me, has had my mind occupied for a long time. And as my life became, just like a book, layered, complex, and chaptered, the path to answering this question became convoluted.

recipes that we learn which even as used as “comfort foods” to cure homesickness. There are

Dennis in Evelyn Waugh's The Loved One and the targets of "The Hollow Men" claim that finding meaning in the outside world is impossible, through juxtaposing imagery and a desensitized view of death to teach one to disregard the corrupting influence of others when looking for identity.

It seems that from all corners of the world, as far as the eye can see and beyond, there are small collections of individuals who believe so strongly, so surely in an idea that the connection between man and his principle become infinitely woven into that individual’s character, sense of identity, and will even influence their actions; when this individual’s ideas are challenged, they act without rational in erratic, and sometimes, violent ways. There are examples of this happening all around us, simply turning to the nearest news source corroborates as much, and if this type of behavior is continued to be forgiven through inaction against it, change will not occur and those few individuals will continue to do harm. Perhaps it is easier to

How did it feel? Nice, or strange, or both? A little fear step in? Your ego came rampaging in with the thought they must think I am strange, or crazy, or did I turn the oven off, or I wish I fixed my hair, or am I after them, or are they after me, or what are they thinking about me, I hope they don’t think I am gay, or ….

A sense of self is a general conscious awareness of your own identity. I have come to understand the term as it is what defines me and makes me one of a kind. It could be a certain look, attitude or personality trait. It could also be the way I view a certain person, thing or subject. My sense of self could even be my purpose in life, perhaps? If it is, then I would say that my sense of self is something that has changed over time and will continue to develop as I get older and my life is influenced by events, places and people. Developing my sense of self is key to living a satisfying and healthy life.

Emotions can be experienced through more than one outlet. Discovering and forming a taste in music, is a mutable unique experience in which we as individuals connect in some form to a melody or string of words that can alter our perception on life. For some, music is a way to let loose and de-stress, but for others, it goes beyond that and essentially becomes a lifestyle. Music can change people’s mood in less than a couple of seconds, but what is most unique about it, is the way in which we all have different reactions to a melody. Reflecting back at how I personally expanded (and continue to expand) my music taste I see how different artists have altered my consciousness and played a role in the type of person I am. Within music genres there

That’s when I realized unlike other people who had a more rigid path in life they wanted to follow; I would instead follow a path where events and opportunities would just happen and I would decide on where that would take me. Although like my parents, such an attitude I came to develop was viewed as just being unambitious and goalless, I wanted to live my life as such due to fact I would never be disappointed or scared on failure if I couldn’t achieve the next objective I would have in an otherwise, goal-driven life. Not that I wanted to be a slacker who will never have any achievement, I had goals in mind however for failing to achieve goals wasn’t the end of the world for me, I would always keep in mind that I would be living my life without regrets and without any remorse for my coarse of actions and decisions. Happiness, in my eyes would ultimately mean being positive, living my life to the fullest and always looking at the positives instead of the negatives.