Critical Reflection

This essay will focus on an incident that I have reflected on in my previous critical reflection. I shall use this as the basis for this essay and expand on and explore the issues that arise from the topics uncovered. During the break of a lecture on genograms, I was prompted to give input regarding a conversation that had arisen between two of my peers, upon hesitating I was quizzed by the one of them: "Why are you always so quiet . . . ". As soon as I heard this, I was reminded of my family, memories of my childhood were brought up and after getting out of the conversation I was immersed in this line of thought for the rest of lecture. I slipped into an all too familiar thought pattern that would sometimes lead to daydreaming, but on this occasion it lead to self-pity.

Although I often disregard such emotions as silly, as I find that it is all too easy for me too feel sorry for myself, they inevitably creep up on me and catch me off guard. This turned into a feeling of anxiety and realization of how my childhood has affected me. I thought about the way I had been brought up by my parents and what may have led to the way I am so reserved and quiet, particularly at times when my input is required, such as in class discussions. There are times when I do hold an
I find that I go through phases of low and high self-esteem; I have never consistently been in approval of my self-image and found it hard to define myself. Baumeister notes this tendency towards erratic self-conceptions: "People with low self-esteem have self-conceptions that change and fluctuate from day to day. Their views about themselves may contain inconsistencies, and they simply have fewer definite beliefs about what they are like than other people have. In short, what they know about themselves tends to uncertain, incoherent and in flux." (Tice, Harter & Baumeister