Idenity and Belonging Essay

Submitted By KateHarris95
Words: 619
Pages: 3

“Growing up is a painful journey of self-discovery”

Each stage of life has its own set of challenges and successes. Some stages are better as they are more carefree and have no worries while others are full of stress and hard decisions. But none is better than the other as they all shape who we are and what we stand for. The journey sometimes seems hard and as though we can’t make it through but every challenge improves our sense of identity and makes us stronger.
Childhood. A time of fun, a time of play, and a time free of worry. This period in our lives may be thought as the best as we don’t need to worry about the future because we are young. But perhaps this age is the most critical to our self-discovery. The biggest influences in our lives at this point are our parents and older family members as they are the ones we interact with daily and look up to and want to be. They are ones who teach us left from right, right from wrong, and who put us on a path to be all we can be. But this period isn’t all unicorns and rainbows. As humans we make mistakes and this time period is full of them as we are learning. What we are taught shape who we are and if we aren’t taught properly from a young age than we may never learn and we grow up with having learnt the wrong things.
The teen years would have to be the hardest of them all. With the pressure from peers, from the media, from schools and parents to do well it is easy to see why it is so. But these years are when we do most of our growing and discovery of who we are and what we stand for, though it may be difficult at times. As teenagers we try to juggle our social lives as well as school work though it is not always possible. The pressure from peers to look or act a certain way and the pressure to succeed tug on our loose threads that are trying to hold us together and this is why growing up has its challenges. We do our best to try to please everyone while trying to find out who we are and that is what makes it painful. Trying to find ones selves in a materialistic and selfish world is no easy task yet everyone