In 1985 a mother gave birth to a strong, healthy baby. At this point in her life the baby had 1 major thing that contributed to her existence. That was her family. Her family fed her, clothed her, and nurtured her. As the baby grew older, she learnt to walk, talk and do things for herself. As years went by she realised that in many ways she was similar to her family and in many ways she was different to her family. She began to realise that there was more to life than just her and family.
As she grew up and made friends she found that they did things differently to her? Little things such as the way they brushed their teeth and how they eat dinner, fascinated her. A few more years went by and she realised that she started thinking about things more. She had opinions, values, ethics, and beliefs that were either slightly or enormously different to her friends or family’s opinions. She also realised her opinions and values changed as time went by.
During high school she became concerned about the way she looked, and the way she did things and soon discovered, it was easier to be normal. She was confused as what ‘normal’ was, but played it cool anyway, because everyone else seemed to know what ‘normal’ was. After a few years of being ‘normal’ she decided that being normal was like putting on high heels and having to wear them all day. So instead she settled with just being herself and soon discovered that being herself was like wearing thongs all day, comfortable and free. Then she realised that if she was herself all time she might be considered far from normal, also know as ‘a freak’. She didn’t want to be a freak and she didn’t want to be normal. So she found a happy medium somewhere in the middle of normal and freak. To her it was more like wearing joggers, comfortable, but when you get home you can’t wait to take them off.
By the time she reached University the girl began to see that she was becoming more and more like her mother, and father. She thought to herself “I’m not like them! They are far from normal!!” Then she remembered that when she was herself she was far from normal to. She thought about all the people she knew in her life and which ones had seen her in which shoes. She then thought that everyone might have found that happy medium and were only ‘themselves’ around those they were close to.
In her final semester of her undergraduate degree she was given an assignment asking her to talk about herself. She thought this will be easy I’ve been myself for 22 years! As she began to ponder about who she was she began to write a story just like this. She also thought that many people’s stories in brief might sound similar to this. But she wanted to know what it was about her story that made her so different to everyone else. What parts of her story needed to be changed for her to have turned out differently?
Looking back to when she was born she remembered that she was born with no shoes on. When you have no shoes on, it’s can be bit uncomfortable at times and you are vulnerable to getting your feet hurt. But you feel free. She knew that there proberbly wasn't a moment that she was more vulnerable and more herself then when she was born. The more she thought about her assignment the more she thought about how she could relate her different pairs of shoes the different theories in psychology.
She decided to post her story on her blog and see where it could go from there.
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4 comments:
Hi everyone.
I know that was a really random blog story thing. But I found it really did help me begin to break down parts of my life to make them more manageble for the mini essay. It also helped me reflect a bit more on my life and me and how things changed at different stages of my life. It was a different way of expressing myself. It was fun writting a story. Weird. But fun. Haha! anyway.
Thanks
-Kara
Hey Kara,
I just wanted to add how much I enjoyed your story. With all the analogies we come across within our psychology degree this one is certainly an interesting one. I often wonder who I really am and what constitutes 'me' and I find it hard to describe everything that makes me, me! Good work on thinking outside the 'box' so to speak and good luck with your blog, from the sounds of it your onto something :) I will be keen to keep an eye out on your blog and the finished product. Thanks. Zoe.
This was a moving and lovely read - they're not quite the right words. It is your story and yet resonates with other's stories. It reminds me of a solo dance my partner performed about 10 years ago which was called something like "into my own boots" - she danced the struggle you describe of trying to walk in boots other people thought she should wear...and then eventually, after trying and being frustrated with them, leaving the boots behind and going barefoot. Thanks for daring to share your story.
Hi Kara,
Thanks for your story.
I think you are really clever for your analogy. It is very difficult to talk about yourself, family and friends in a public domain.... it can be frightening.
Congrats for choosing to discuss your social self.... it is so interesting to discover where you are from-- it can really tell you alot about where you might go.
Beck. xx
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