Personal Narrative: My Identity

Identity is an enigma that every teenager struggles with. It's the conflict in each of our very own Bildungsromans - who are we? When I started the Common Application on August 1st, being the overachiever that I am, I believed that I did not have an identity to write about. I knew that I liked reading and music or that I hated algebra, but I didn't have an overarching sense of self. How could I write about myself in such a way as to impress admissions officers when I didn't even think I had a personality worth noting? I begged my friends and teachers to describe me but dismissed them when they said I was something like "creative" or "funny". I was convinced that an essay about such a broad, slightly conceited view of myself would be not only difficult to write but torturous to read. In a desperate attempt to find something interesting about myself, I started to pull out old memories. …show more content…
Looking back on old memories, however, I could suddenly see that it was a much larger part of my personality than I thought it was. Some of my first memories are of "performances" that I would put on in the sweltering southern heat for my great grandpa in return for candy cigarettes. I remember coming home the last year I was able to go down to Mississippi and see him for the summer and pretending he was listening during my first couple flute lessons. I loved playing flute more than anything; something about hitting the high notes was exciting, as if every note above the staff was its own achievement. Years down the road I would join choir and feel the exact same way about singing soprano