To begin this assignment, I took a moment to reflect on all the attributes that make me who I am. I focused on how these attributes affect me, where I’ve learned them, and things I may need to change. I thought about not only the positive identities that resonate with me but about the negatives ones as well.
Something I was able to identify that makes me who I am is that I am a good listener. Early in my life I was taught by my mother that the best way to learn new things about the world as well as yourself is to listen to the people around you. I use this skill every day, whether it be in work, school, or my social life. I’m the type of person who treats certain situations very cautiously before I know all of the details surrounding it. Even though I can be hesitant to try new things I think having this process in my life helps me connect better with the people around me as well as reflects positively on the outcome of the work I do in and outside of school.
While reflecting on myself I’ve noticed characteristic I would like to maintain as well as change. I often get caught up in the little things in my life and tend to stress about things I shouldn’t. In the past this problem has had a negative affect within my circle of friends and family. Most of the time I would identify as a very extroverted person. My anxiety gets very high when I start to stress many small things at once and in turn this can cause me to shut people out. From past experiences I’ve realized some people may take this personally and I can come across as rude and uncaring. I like to believe I am the type of person that would gout of his way to try and please and individual, but this isn’t always the case due to this issue.
Another thing I have realized while navigating through life is that I am very fortunate to be where I am today. While at an early age I did come from a lower socioeconomic background my parents were able to work their way up to middle class by the time I was 19. I understand a lot of people don’t have the opportunities to make it out of certain situations they are in and I try to be very empathetic towards people that are less fortunate than me. While I haven’t chose helping this as a career path, I attempt to help in other ways when I can. At least one free weekend during the semester I hand out food to the homeless of Athens at one of the local shelters. I believe past experiences and the realization of how lucky I have been has helped form the helping attributes I have today.
I believe in order to maintain a happy life you must always take a moment to assess your self awareness.
