Personal Narrative: My Cultural Identity

As our lives progress, we become products of the accumulation of all the encounters and experiences that somehow manage to leave a mark on us. Of course, in our lives there are also negligible moments, much like beginning to do something but then forgetting your original intentions. However, there are also many moments we do consider important, and those we hold closely with even higher significance. A sum of these things that we’ve gone through, or things that have simply happened to us, are what make up our own cultural identity. Based on the nature of no one having the exact same experiences, all of our cultural identities are entirely our own. If I recall on my own lifetime, there are certain experiences I’d consider to have directly affected …show more content…
Of course I have had my own goals for myself as well, but they stemmed from the roots of my parents’ support. From an early time in my life, my parents have always expected me to receive no less than the highest letter grades possible. Consequently, there were many experiences that reside on the more negative side of my memories regarding my parents’ expectations. One of those times was when I graduated from middle school and wasn’t awarded for keeping straight A’s all year. That year, I only received one B, but I vividly remember my parents’ disappointment. Similarly, at the end of my freshman year when I was acknowledged for three separate awards, their favoritism was only most obviously shown towards the one regarding the highest grades. Despite some of these moments not having been particularly heart-warming, they’ve still influenced who I am today. My parents always having high expectations of me has deeply influenced my cultural identity because it encouraged my dedication to things that are important to me and my future. Their expectations also influenced who I am because they taught me to come up with expectations and goals for myself. These multiple experiences did ultimately influence my cultural identity today and as my journey with academics carries on, I can also continue to use the valuable insight I gained from these