Personal Narrative: Who Are You?

If asked the question, “Who are you?”, I would describe myself as being independent, determined, and somewhat introverted. I would attribute a large part of my self concept to how and where I was brought up.
Living in Canada, a very individualistic culture, there is a big emphasis on independent self construal (Sanderson & Safdar, 2012, 3.6), but I believe this varies depending on where in Canada you live as well as your stage in life. Being from a very small town and attending a high school with less than 1000 students, having individuality and expressing yourself was highly encouraged, but to a certain degree. I’m sure anyone from a small town can relate to the difficulty of expressing your individuality and uniqueness in such a small community where there is an underlying pressure to conform to social standards. We’ve all heard the saying, “Small town, big dreams,” and the notion that no one seems to ever make it out of a small town. I love my home and the small town feeling it entails but I believe it played a big part in shaping who I am. I have always seen myself as a very independent person, never relying much on others as well as very determined, in the sense that when I set my mind to something I will go to great lengths to accomplish it. …show more content…
This ties in with my independence in the sense that I deal with things on my own. It is likely that if you were to ask my friends, they would describe me as outgoing, sociable, and extroverted which contrasts with my self perception. This could be accounted for by social influence – the impact of other people on my behaviour as well as the three aspects of self designated by social psychologist Harry Triandis; private, public and collective self (Sanderson & Safdar, 2012, 3.6). I would say that my private self, how I see myself, does not completely align with my public self, how others see