My Influences On My Identity

Identity refers to who you are and the specific characteristics that set you apart from everyone else. The attributes that define our identity are composed of individual and social categories that can either make you different or similar to another person or group. This has particularly impacted the way I communicate with others, and how I am received when interactions take place. Communication has created and shaped me as a person and ultimately my identity as an individual in society. I will be explaining this by examining labels people would potentially give me, how I identify myself, how my Mom and best friend view me, and how I wish to be identified. The basic general labels that people would label me on sight would be: female, “white”, Caucasian, American, college student, heterosexual, German, Irish, and middle-class. All of the labels I have listed have been brought to my attention after I have communicated with other individuals on how I appear to them. Most of these characteristics do stay true to the way I look, however, some of these are more superficial to my identity than others. For example, being a female. Identifying whether an individual is a specific gender based off of if they exhibit femininity or masculinity seems very arbitrary in this day and age and profound. I don’t act in a specific …show more content…
Since I identify myself in many ways, I try to focus more of my attention on my internal characteristics rather than external. However, one piece of my identity that explains me externally is being athletic. I have received many positive reflected appraisals on my ability to play volleyball, and therefore have continued to play and fall in love with the sport. Being athletic has allowed me not only to play volleyball, but has taught me how to be passionate, hard working, sociable, caring, friendly, determined, motivated, active, dedicated, organized, and responsible. A