How Do We Shape Our Identity

While we deal with the challenges of our lives, our identities change continuously. Our identity is how we view the world, our lives and ourselves. This is shaped by the results of our challenges; either success or failure, as well as the groups of people we belong to. Yet there are some aspects of identity that have been naturally given to us such as family, religion, culture and appearance.

Everybody will always have different personalities due to our different experiences. Our identities are formed from our past experiences which determine how we act, behave and socialise. Experiences of success or failure from challenges causes us to make certain choices in our lives, further shaping our identities. This has been demonstrated by Parvana
after her father was arrested, resulting in her viewing herself as part of a team, her family.

The groups we belong to also hold a large role in forming who we are and how we identify ourselves.
Our identities seem to change depending on the groups we join and how we deal with them as we naturally feel the need to belong. These groups include our families, friends, religious groups and cultural groups. Out of all of these, our families are to first to shape us and our identities, generally influencing us the most, whether it is negative or positive. With this, ‘family’ is the first group to teach us what is wrong and right as well as what to reject or accept. Parvana has been influenced by her family to stand up against the Taliban while being told the story of Malali by her father.

Being in a certain cultural group holds a large impact on how we act or the ways we do things. Although some people merely choose to follow the ways of their cultural groups, some are forced by extremist groups, losing the ability to think for themselves. Parvana and her family are a great example of this where they have to follow the Taliban in Afghanistan who take away people’s freedom.

Religious groups also determine how we view the world, our lives and ourselves. They teach us how to live life, how we are judged as well as the consequences of wrongdoings. This helps us view the world and life in a more appreciative way, building and changing our
identities.

Not only this, but our physical aspects shape our identities as well. This includes our genders and appearances, which may result in experiences of being treated stereotypically or racially due to our differences. This is demonstrated in Parvana’s environment where women are treated unequally.

It is clear that neither what we have been naturally given and what we have to face later on in life are the single factors in forming our identities. Instead, we are the sum of them. However our natural aspects are what we are born with while our experiences are an ongoing process. Our natural aspects of our identities shape how we view our environment yet our experiences question them.