The Formation of Identity - Essay Example

Identity Identity Identity is something that we cannot afford to become complacent with; instead it needs to be explored with. In my opinion, identity may be defined as distinctive characteristics that may belong to an individual. The formation of identity is a complex process as it involves a lot of factors like influence of close relations, circumstances, one has to confront in life and any special event that can transform a personality completely. I plan to share the development of my identity with specific reference to change in attitude as a transformation to my life, an event that was orchestrated by my fathere’s rebuke to the laziness of my cousine. I happened to have been endowed with of being a fast learner as compared to my peers. This thus made me receive a special liking from my parent who encouraged hard work both at home and in school. In the face of academic achievement, I got an immence amout of praises from the parents and the teachers in equal measure. Nevertheless, the resultant effect of these praises according to my understanding contributed to development of a complacent attitude. I took basic life skills for granted and developed a more grandiosed behavior. In a real essence, I thought being superior to other children both socially and interlectually. The attitude that took all matters with the same intensity and without realization that some things require extended effort and care is just not right. A common saying in the public domain is that: "If I had as much much talent, I would have certainly put it to a right use and achieved aim of life". Most people say this because they do not want to make efforts to achieve every aim of life, and they are jealous of people who have such talent. The point is, it does not depend on how much talent you have, it’s about how hard you try. The people who have more talent than you aren’t the worst thing for you. The most terrible thing in the world is a person who has more talent than you, and they still make more of an effort than you are. My parents employed extra effort to transform my perception of social and economic life. this was categorically meant to enshrine a realistic view of the general world in the child in me as a means of preparation for responsibility. I just could not initiate that change in my personality and attitude at that time. Although I was quite young and aware of the fact that personality traits impacted at this time would be everlasting and would shape my identity (Baumeister, 1999). “Time changes everyone”, this common say had a great impact on my life as I watched my father manage his office activities with profund precission to elements of time The change became a reality one day when I went to my fathers office after school. I was doing my homework which was a routine, as I used just to go to my fathers office after school and would spend a couple of hours there before leaving for home together. My cousin came to my father in seek for a job and expected him to influence his department in that case. The cousine graduation degree with average grades from a college in Australia and had been unemployed for a year. He thought he would get a good job easier than most of the contenders with his bachelor degree from diaspora. He was trying to get some cushy job without working hard with fewer office hours. But the truth is, no one wants him with his mere graduation degree and no work experience. The response of my father to my cousin was what opened my eyes up and landed me in the reality world. My father being a man of principles after having achieved the success he wants in his life due to sheer hard work and determination. He said to my cousin, “I have struggled a lot in life and strives day in and day out to get what I want. I could have easily qualified in any exam in life with little effort, but I never aimed so as my aim always was to be excellence. I just wanted to be different from the masses and never liked mediocrity. I received certain upbringing from my parents, and they always emphasized upon certain social and moral values that became charter of governance for me.” From that moment, my life took a different twist and worked in cooperation with the parents in beed to achive exerlent aims in life. My parents knew I was not an outstanding individual so never expected miracles from me, but they just demanded one thing from me, and that was a sincere effort. They would tell me, and we would love to see you go down fighting, but just keep one thing in mind that you should never be self-complacence and never give up. I made the words of my father a guiding principle of my life and put best of my efforts in achievement of my targets. English was not my first language and in an attempt to learn the lamguage, I encounted a lot of failiures and based on te guiding principle I had adopted, I found the courage to keep on trying. Before I came to United States, I studied in Singapore for six months. Nevertheless, unlike in the US, in singerpore there are a lot of people who can speak Chinese. Not knowing English did not seem strange in the country and this contravened my basic need for moving to an international platform for language aquisation sake. Singapore thus didn’t feel the right place for me in regard to learning English. After I came to United States, I found out it was not easy to acclimatize cultural difference. The U.S English is different from the British English I learned in China. The pronunciation is totally different and Americans talk faster. I couldn’t understand the language in my first month of stay in America. I remember one time I had wanted an eraser for my drawing class. I told my house sister I needed a rubber, after I said it three times, she still didn’t know what I was talking about. Later I found out no one calls an eraser a rubber in here. The first month was awful for me, and there is no short-cut to improve on my English. All I have to do is practice, and speak with my house family every single day. As long as you are trying, you will never fail. I just thought if I continue this, one day I would also land myself in this particular situation one day and made a commitment with myself that I would make all the things mentioned by my father part of my life. I started focusing on my goals and targets and certainly aimed for excellence in everything I did. This event changed my life and the success that followed tell all about it. It completely changed my identity and got me the credits of hardworking. The buildup of identity is a matter of debate as some people think that certain traits are genetically transferred from parents to their children, nevertheless, I do not agree with that. My father initially had an altogether different identity mine. I believe identity possessed by an individual has more to do with the circumstances and environment one encounters in life. The shape up of ones identity is guided by personal experiences and events that can initiate tectonic changes in an individual. These outside factors can convert ones weaknesses into strengths and compel them to do what initially seemed an impossible task. I believe if certain changes are made to the interacting environment of an individual it would change his or her identity (Watson, 2008). Works Cited Baumeister, R. F. (1999). Self-concept, self-esteem, and identity. Watson, T. J. (2008). Managing Identity: Identity Work, Personal Predicaments and Structural Circumstances. Organization. Read More