Personal Narrative: My Individual Identity

I left everything behind and refused to go back. I left the one thing I wanted the most, but found the one thing I needed, freedom. My dark cloud of regret was behind me as I entered my salvation, Amsterdam. I entered the gates of Amsterdam and saw a multitude of smiling faces and entered the light. I had no recollection of how I got there, but I knew he wasn’t here I could feel it. I was finally free and I walked through the golden gates knowing I could start over.

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.

Who am i? I am an individual who has achieved many goals despite a childhood and adolecense with much adversity. I grew up I Santa Clarita, California my child hood was realativley normal . My grandmother mary died, when I was 7 and my mother started drinking heavily . By the time I was 11 she was a raging alcoholic and was depressed most of the time. I was helpless, at the same time my father became a drug addict. As a result of her alcoholism my mother contacted cirrhosis and when I was 13 she passed away. I was devastated and too young to lose my mother.

Investigating your identity, “who you are” is all a journey we go through as we grow up, especially when going through puberty. Which is similar to when Aboriginals participate in a vision quest as they try to figure out who they are and what life has for them in the future. Growing up you don’t understand the concept of “who you are” until you start going into puberty because you pay more attention to everything around you. As you grow up, your parents start to tell you stories about your heritage, learning about all our traditions. Having my parents come to Canada from Iraq, taught me how to speak another language and the traditions they participated in, generation after generation, showing me what makes my family Iraqi. You start to pay

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.

My Identity connects to my culture because it describes the way I look and the point of view I have on certain topics. My culture is the Native American tribe, Wampanoag and I am also Mexican. I have some facial features and body structures from both sides of the family like: most of my family has brown or black hair, we are taller than the average human, and our faces have an oval shape. Some topics that my family has taught me from both sides of the family is, family always sticks together and always comes first, and If you see bad things going on in the world, always try to help and do whats right. From my Dad’s side of the family, I learned tons about survival skills and on my Mom’s side I learned a lot about traditions. An example from

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.

I am a white American female. Another term that can be used to describe my race is caucasian. Some characteristics that come with my race include a fair skin tone and naturally light colored hair. I do not think that anyone can truly be a “pure” race because family trees expand genetically within multiple races, especially in current times. People of all races are reproducing and creating a more mixed environment than ever before.

How many different “hats” do we each wear on a daily bases. From our careers, to our family and friends we all have different identities that we claim and live out day to day. These identities help us define who we are. “When we identify ourselves, we draw on a host of different characteristics associated with various social groups to which we belong” (King 2012, pg. 429). My ornament is explaining the social identity through a snow-women and her many hats.

We all have at least one component of our life that defines who we are as a person, whether it be school and extracurriculars, hobbies and talents, personal experiences, or even our family and past. All of these factors play an essential role in the human experience, as it continually shapes how one grows as a person. In my life, my own perspective has been defined by my ethnic background and place of origin, and this has helped me to understand my identity, as it continually shapes my worldview. I believe my past to be the most important element of my application, because it communicates the person I am, and not just the numbers on my test scores, my GPA, or anything else one can tangibly measure and place on paper.    I was born into a family in Ufa, Russia who did not want

“Sweetheart I have always been identified for being a mother, sister, and a daughter, but never as me. In the midst of managing family, I was never able to build my own identity,” said my grandma who got married right after high school.

As soon as I read this question, I immediately knew the answer. It came to me like a refreshing gust of wind, on a sunny day. The answer is beautifully tragic, that answer is being yourself.

My life has been dominated by an invisible line of division attempting to constitute who i should be; but I am Switzerland. Under no circumstances would i be able to choose one part of the cultures that make me who i am. The best display of this unusual conjunction of cultures is Thanksgiving. My plate is separated by that line of division between collard greens, macaroni and cheese, corn bread on one side, and arroz con gandules, penil, tortillas and pastelillos. Its funny how that separation is something comical when it comes to food, but turns into a constant struggle inside of me every time i am reminded. Being multiracial makes it impossible to fit into one specific mold that society tries to set for people. Going into my senior year schools have asked me to define myself, to try and explain who i am on a piece of paper by

Who am I? Who am I? A question that I have constantly asked myself . A question that I haven’t found a complete and accurate solution for. Before this mystery is solved, I have already discovered a few personalities of my own. I, Richard Shum, welcome the opportunity to tell you more about myself.

As a young girl in elementary school I would get the question “what are you?” As a junior in high school, whether in school or in the grocery store, I am still frequently asked that same question. I used to feel embarrassed of my identity when they asked what I was. My usual response was to slightly laugh and tell them I was “mixed.”