Self-Reflection Paper No.

WHO AM I? WHAT CONTRIBUTED TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF MY SELF AND IDENTITY?

Each person has his own ways of understanding and recognizing one’s own self and identity. However,
an individual cannot describe his own attributes and characters if he does not completely know his own
individuality and personality. Thus, to be able to progress, develop and improve as a human being, it is important
and a great challenge to appreciate the positivity that one possess and accept the flaws and imperfections.
As a person who has several roles not just in my own family but also to other different aspects, I have
known my strengths and weaknesses as I engage with my everyday living. In terms of the physical and emotional
aspects of myself, I can describe myself as someone who has imperfections inside and out. However, the
negativities that I have, did not in any case influence or affect me negatively because instead of considering it
as a problem I tend to accept and embrace it making it as my inspiration and appreciation with myself. I may not
be a perfect and the most good-looking and beautiful woman that exists, nevertheless, I am completely grateful
to who I am and become beautiful in my own unique ways.
Meanwhile, I am the type of person who is sensitive and emotional with the happenings around me which
I think is currently hurting or affecting me. Words, discouragements and judgements from some important people
in my life can easily affect my mood and feelings. Despite of these things, I still respect them and consider them
as part of my life. Also, I am someone who is really determined to finish my bachelor’s degree because one of
the most important goals in my life is to help my family and make them proud. I am not from a wealthy family and
I wanted to return the sacrifices that my parents are doing just to support me in what I wanted to do. So,
regardless of the difficulties that I will be facing, I told and prepared myself not to stop and continue to strive
because I do not want to disappoint my family for everything they did to me.
In connection in describing myself as I family member, I am grateful to say that my parents raise me very
well. Our family may not have all the luxurious possessions but they never failed to provide us the best that we
deserve. Between me and my brother, I am more talkative and energetic when we are at home. I usually stay in
our house and sing suddenly. Since I was a child, I have this characteristic to always understand and consider
the situation of others. Perhaps, it was because my parents taught me to adjust and become mature for being
the eldest sibling. Because of that teaching, up until now, I usually consider other people’s sake first before mine.
In terms of friendship, I am usually interactive and talkative to people I’m comfortable with. To be honest,
I do not know how to socialize with the people I newly met. I think that it was because I was not expose to social
interactions during my childhood. Ever since I was a kid, our home is enough for me and I enjoy the company of
myself. However, as I grow older I met friends that helped me develop and go out of my shell, they were the
people who believe in me and gave me encouragement.
Doubting and not believing in myself that I can achieve my goals in life is own of the negative traits that I
consider to possess because until now I have not learned trust myself. Honestly, as the second semester started,
I feel pressured and afraid of the negative thoughts running in my head because I’m a person who overthinks
and worries most especially when it comes to my self-esteem. I have the fear that I’ll become a disappointment
and a failure to my family due to the pressure that I felt when I found out that my classmates were the top students
from different blocks. I am still adapting and adjusting to these changes in order to survive, improve and develop
even more.
The characteristics and traits that I have shared are only some of what constitute my overall personality
and self. Furthermore, these attributes were developed in me because of the several factors that affect my day-
to-day experiences. Social factor is one of the influencer of how I turned to who I currently am. My families,
friends and people who were part of my life taught me to adjust and adapt on different situations that I am in.
They allow me to grow and become mature with my decisions. Additionally, they were my sources of strength
every time I feel down and in bad mood. My self and identity formed because of how well the people around me
treated me.
 Moreover, social institutions enhanced and provided me clear understanding and vision of how I should
see and live life. The beliefs, faith and inspiration have affected my perception and goals. Because of the
challenges I have experienced from schools, friends, families and beliefs, I was able to find myself and be able
to accept and embrace the blissfulness that is within life.
My overall well-being was not just influence by social factors but also environmental factors. The
community or society where I belong serves as the standard and basis for the norms and behavior that I should
follow as I grow older because as a member of the society I know that I have the responsibility to conform to
what is expected of the elders from me. I came from province so my life there was way simpler than how I live
in Cebu. The culture that I grew up with has contributed to the progress and improvement with myself. My views
in life were also influenced by the environment. Part of the environmental factor is the existence of media and
advancement of technology. I personally believe that it has also affects my growth as a person not just physically
but as well as to other human aspects.
Technology enables me to access and know about any information I wanted to find and be able to
participate and be aware of the current issues in the society. Hence, it signifies that as technology emerged with
the society, it has opened a door for me and to any other people to have more opportunities to interact and
develop.
On the other hand, the hereditary or biological factors have also contributed my characteristics and traits.
My father really loves music and likes to play guitar. As I grew up, I was exposed to these activities and end up
loving music as well. In addition, my physical appearance, as what my friends have described, is more closely
similar to my father’s physical features. On my own evaluation, I think that the shy and silent characteristic of
mine was from my mother because I usually see her less interactive to other people compared to my father. She
is more quiet and prefers to stay at home.
On the last factor to consider which is the person-volition factor, I could not think of any behavior that I
have that will satisfy or was influence by this factor because I usually follow orders from my parents or teachers.
I am someone who is afraid to break rules or not to conform with what is told to be done. However, I just have
some weird food preferences such as loving the taste of Oreo biscuits and water, orange juice and unsweetened
biscuits, scrambled egg and hot chocolate together.
Among the four factors that I have mentioned, I think that the most influential factor in the development
of myself and identity is the social factors because I interact with them directly and I consider them as my first-
hand influencer, most especially, my family. The lessons, moments and experiences that I have when I was with
them molded me to become who I am today. I have learned to appreciate my positive qualities and slowly
overcome my problems with the help of the important people in my life.