Personal Identity Essay

I think that my family and the culture in which I grew up has really shaped my identity and lived experiences. I grew up in a very liberal household (my parents lived in Ithaca for many years before I was born) and I was always encouraged to keep an open mind and look at various controversies from a liberal perspective. This aspect of my life has shaped me to be an open-minded and liberal thinker. My parents also taught be to embracing of all differences rather than being judgmental. Growing up, our family activities included going to Gay Pride rallies and church services, even though we were Hindus. My parents wanted to expose me and my sister to a variety of people different than ourselves so that we would learn how to accept and embrace

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

I interviewed my nephew, Jeremy, for this assignment. Jeremy and I are members of the same family; but, have different racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds. My family is very large, consisting of; six brothers, sister in-laws, my parents, and fifteen nieces and nephews. My brother, Joe, married an African-American women (Sandra) and had two sons; but, they look nothing alike. Surprisingly, Jeremy’s appearance is African-American and Anthony looks Caucasian.

I chose to interview my nephew, Jeremy for this paper. Jeremy and I are members of the same family; but, have different racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds. My family is a very large family and consists of; six brothers, sister in- laws, and fifteen nieces and nephews. My brother, Joe, married an African-American women (Sandra) and had two sons; but, they look nothing alike. Surprisingly, Jeremy’s appearance is African-American and Anthony looks Caucasian.

Personal identity is a valued sense of oneself as it sets us apart from any other one individual. Time transpires, yet we are capable of identifying who we are because of the personal identity we manage to sustain. Personal identity is a significant and strong factor that allows us to lead our everyday lives, separating us from everyone else in the present, past, and future. Individuals day in and day out are subject to rapid change internally and externally and coming across obstacles that can appear to alter personal identity, so the question that arises is “Does the identity of a person persist through time?” Yes, the identity of a person does persist through time. I believe this to be true, as identity is a strong and intricate collection of many unbeknownst factors surpassing the feebleness of other forces throughout the course of time.

Although people generate a separate profile for each individual they meet, sometimes the profiles are very different. In high school we befriend many persons of different races, personalities, as well as social groups, yet we tend to befriend very similar individuals. Very rarely do we realize that some people are actually more different than we know. Freshman year, I entered into a world all different than what I was used to, but yet I made two amazing friends. Jessica was different than the friends I had in middle school, but I was happy to make friends different than what I was used to. Amber on the other hand, was all too similar to the friends I had back in middle school. I was happy nonetheless to have some familiarity in a big new world called High school. Between them are many differences, but a few stand out from the others. College and work ethic, their personalities, and talents differ greatly.

Have you ever been asked a question that you didn’t know the answer to? I have. Actually, I’ve been asked multiple questions that seem to have no answer. Some should’ve been easy to answer like, “Where are you from?”, “What time were you born?”, and “What’s your family’s history?”. However, they weren’t. I only learned how to answer the first one with the city name and country when I was in fourth grade. I still don’t know what time I was born at and my family’s medical, cultural, or hereditary history. I had struggled to answer these supposed easy questions as I grew up, because I was adopted.

Identity, we all have one and we are all different. My identity consists of being hardworking, intelligent,and athletic . These traits have all helped change my life for the better. This essay will cover the main ways these traits have affected my life.

Yet, when looking at the identity status of individuals, the significant link between NSSI and identity once again emerges suggesting that is more important as to what identity status an individual has achieved (Luyckx et al, 2015b).

Half of my identity revolves around my race and culture.The first impression people have about my race is that I am white, but I quickly break that single story they may have of my race when I say that I am Mexican. Mexico is where my father was born and my mother was born here, but her parents as well were born in Mexico. My culture is revolved around Mexican traditions. Being Mexican isn’t just my race, it also has a vast influence on the way I talk, my manners, and how I carry myself. Mexico symbolizes countless parts of who I am and the first word that pops up in my head to describe it is tranquility. Every time I am there for vacations or family visits as soon as I step foot out of the plane I’m instantly happier and calmer. My family and I are Christian and all of us have been brought up to follow the christian ways and to attend church.This affects my everyday life as long as I am told to pray every morning and night and every family gathering, praying is always involved, so our family is unquestionably religious. The number 15 isn’t just my age, it's part of my culture as well. When the girls in my culture turn 15 everyone takes is serious since it’s the age girls become women, therefore families throw a tremendous party to celebrate.

The idea of self and identity is highly intricate, and the self can either be one of three options: the self is private, constructive, or a mixture of both. In the private viewpoint, the self is static, founded on a set number of traits, values, and dispositions that will not change with time. The constructivist theory argues that the self is changeable by nature and changes based on varying circumstances.Then, there is the mixture idea, that these separate opposing ideas are connected, as the way the self is developed and reflected upon is based on how the brain and individual thoughts develop. This is highlighted in Gopnik’s statement that, “Ourselves shape our brains at least as much as our brains our selves” (Gopnik 2). When reflecting on Gopnik’s article more it seems only logical to think that some parts of the self is constructed, whereas other parts are private, and this completely depends on the environment of the child. Parenting styles is one of those environmental aspects, and it largely impacts how a child’s socioemotional, and language skills develop, which in turn has a ripple effect on how the child ultimately views their own personality and self.

Religion was a significant part of my childhood. I went to church every Sunday, with the occasional weeknight bible studies and youth groups thrown in the mix. At church I was taught that my God is forgiving, loving, and accepting. As a kid, this was amazing to me. I loved going to church and was so proud of my faith. Back then, my role models were limited to God, and my favorite aunt, Sundee. Sundee was one of the most beautiful, smart, and loving women in my life. She was also gay. As a kid this was normal to me, I did not care one bit that she chose to kiss girls rather than boys. It just seemed so unimportant to me. I took so much pride in looking up to my aunt, but also in being religious. The first time I felt betrayed by my own identity was when I was told that God does not accept gay people. I was at Sunday School and I still remember the horrible feelings of shame and confusion flooded my ten year old body. I found out that a big part of what I believed in, contradicted my feelings. I still knew deep down that I accepted people, regardless of sexuality. Two factors of my identity, that I had overlapping for so long, finally clashed. I did not know which side to believe anymore. I developed new borders in my identity.

According to the Oxford dictionary Identity is, The fact of being who or what a person or thing is. In my opinion I believe that no one can tell you what your own identity should be. Your identity is everything you are and no should be able to change that about you. Your identity is your character, your personality, yourself, your singularity and your existence. In the short stories,” Two Kinds” by Amy Tan; “The Bass, The River and Sheila Mant” by W.D Wetherell and “ Papa's Parrot” by Cynthia Rylant, all of the characters realize their personality and their identity in their own special ways.

I exist in a grayscale. My mother once frolicked under palm trees in the Dominican Republic while my father munched on warm croissants in France; flakey crumbs smothered his cheek. Although born in New York City, I lack a certain sense of identity. Entangled in my very own roots, I feel neither American, nor French, nor Dominican. Still, my identity seems obscure, a ceaseless confusion that clouds my mind, endlessly drowning me in unfounded thoughts.

My identity can be summarized by six key elements. Each element has helped shape me into the person I am today. Every decision and action I have made can be linked to the elements of my identity. Although there are many elements that can be found in my identity, my appearance and religion, along with being a Nebraskan, family member, student, and athlete, are the primary contributions to my identity.