Reflection Questions About the Self
It is important to examine one’s self to identify their purpose and goals in life; without understanding the self, one’s life becomes meaningless. In addition, it also plays a role in understanding others; as a result, it can be a valuable tool for anthropologists when studying their subjects. Besides this, learning about one’s self can allow an individual to make more informed decisions in their life. It can let them know how their social and cultural environment influences them, what proclivities and traits are unique to them, and how the plurality of their identities evolve over time to give meaning to their own identity.
I see myself as a relatively individualistic person since I usually do not use my social membership in different groups to define my identity and interests. For this reason, I frequently feel out of place and also find it difficult to connect with others. Even with my own family and my closest friends, I do not feel comfortable being close. Although it sometimes made me feel unwelcome in this world—especially because I feel like not caring about others entailed that no one should care about me—I have learned the importance of self-worth over time. Overall, I see myself as a conscious being seeking to find long-term fulfillment in living.
Similar to many people, I enjoy receiving approval and validation for working hard. I also enjoy having back and forth conversations with people despite being too shy to participate in one frequently. I think what makes me unique as a person is that when I am talking to someone, I enjoy playing devil’s advocate or being skeptical about what is being said. Although it does irritate or intimidate people around me, my friends are usually okay with it.
People’s perception of me varies depending on how close I am to them. I noticed that people who are not close to me often think I am more clever or hardworking than I really am, which sometimes causes me to fear disappointing them. Other times, people who are distant to me think that I am cold/intimidating or shy and awkward. People close to me find me talkative, loud, argumentative, paranoid, and overthinks too much. In addition, people close to me are usually aware how clueless and forgetful I truly am.
In my family, I am the eldest son who usually tutor or assist my sisters in their lessons or assignments. In school, I am a student of DLSU. In class, I am either a group leader or just another member in the group. In my country, I am an ordinary citizen. In my friend group, I try my best to encourage having discussions and minimizing silence by either asking questions or introducing various topics.
Currently I am a student who strives to financially support my family in the future. In the future, I plan to give back as much as I can to people I owe a lot to growing up. I feel like I spent a large portion of my youth ignoring the problems present in the country; hence, I plan to be a more responsible and active citizen partaking in political, social, and cultural activities to improve the conditions in the country.
I try to be satisfied with what I have and adapt to different circumstances instead of being materialistic and overly concerned with not being able to be a better person than who I wished to be. I realized that thinking about being a disappointment and not achieving my dreams or goals just paralyzed me and caused me to never develop. Instead I try to live in the present and evaluate my past performance, reviewing my mistakes to not make them again. I try not to let my failures control or hinder me in order to move forward. So, for me, I try to create meaning in life instead of looking for it by focusing on the present and enjoying the moment.