Unit identity

Warm-Up:Identity Map.Fill in the map with ten words, phrases, symbols or pictures that describe you. It is very important not to think much about this, just put down what come into your mind first. Rank these ideas, number one being the most important and number ten being the least important. Shareandcompareyouridentitymapsinthegroup.

I.1. This text will help you to get a better idea what personal identity is and how it is correlated with self-esteem. Read it and be ready to discuss its main problems in class.

Personal Identity

Your personal identity is the way that you see yourself and how others see and define you. Personal identity is formed through the communication and the influence of the family, the educational system and the mass media. It is very important as it is only through establishing your own identity and learning about the identities of other individuals that we come to know what makes us similar to some people and different from others. It affects the friends you have, who you will marry or live with, the groups to which you relate and belong, as well as the way you behave in challenging situations. In other words, identity ‘fits’ you into the society in which you live. Nevertheless, we are not free to adopt any identity we like, and it is also influenced by such factors as our social class, ethnic group, sex.

Thinking over your identity, you should take into consideration so called Identity Statements and Identity Questions, like: I can…, I have…, I like…, I am…, I remember…, What Am I? What makes me who I am? What are my values? What are my personal goals? Where do I belong? Who do I belong? How many of me are sitting in my chair? Do I persist through time? etc.

A well-developed personal identity will help you to be at harmony with the world and others around you. Understanding your personal identity means to be clear about who you are and what you believe and it is a first step towards self-acceptance and higher self-esteem that will change your life positively. Lack of self-acceptance creates a number of problems in your life that affect you personally and how others treat you. If you manage to develop self-acceptance your life will be free of self-criticism and you can begin to face the challenges in your life and succeed. Everyone holds opinions about the type of person that they are. These opinions are at the heart of self-esteem and they affect how you feel about and value yourself. Self-esteem is not static and fixed; your beliefs about yourself can change throughout your life as a result of circumstances and experience. The impact of low esteem on your day-to-day life can be dramatic, as it affects your personal relations, social life, work, behaviour and so on.

You should make your own decisions in order to live as you want to, not as others want or how you feel you should. You should remember that nobody on this planet is or was ever exactly like you. If you want to feel good about yourself then you need to understand what your values are and start living them. Your internal identity, your personality and character, make you unique and you should value them.

It should be pointed out that our identity changes often over the years. The sense of identity appears early on in life as the infant begins to differentiate themselves from their mother. Later on we identify with our career orientation, then we go into relationships, maybe parenthood, then on through those busy years towardsmidlife and then the empty nest, forward to our senior years.