Personal Narrative: How I Changed My Identity

In 7th grade, I changed the way I dressed, my taste in music, my group of friends, and I cut and colored my hair. And for what? A boy that I had a crush on named Adam. At the time, I had no idea that my new identity would put my life on a different set of tracks. Consequently, I ended up dating Adam for the majority of 7th grade and I assimilated myself into a new friend group which consisted of mostly Adam’s friends. I was like a sheep that never strayed from the herd. Dressing the same as my new friends and listening to the same music as they did, I even started using more vulgar language to match their way of speech; I just wanted to fit in and have my new group of friends accept me. This entire campaign starting with wanting Adam to like me spiraled out of control. I completely changed every fiber of my being that made me ME- I transformed from Yasmin, who was shy and seldom noticed, to “that girl with blue hair who goes to hardcore concerts on the weekends.” I unknowingly lost something very important that year: my identity.
Reflecting back on that year of middle school, I don’t regret the choices I made anymore. If I didn’t make them, then I might have still been that same shy girl that few people knew. That year was the beginning of my personal evolution. With considerable effort on my part, I'm no longer stuck in the mindset that I can only like one genre of music and I can only dress one certain way; in fact, I have come a long way since then. Today, my Spotify playlists include a wide array of music genres. My sense of style varies day to day. The way I dress, my hair, and my makeup is for my happiness: to impress myself, and no one else. No matter how strange the image of me jamming out to obscure Turkish music conjures, I won’t change until I want to