Stranger in Me

I believe that in order to love who you are, you need to take into consideration the experiences that shaped you into that person throughout your life; that’s why the question “Who am I?” has lots of meaning behind it and it can be interpreted differently by yourself and the people around you. When people ask us such a vague question, the answers that come to mind are probably our name, our age, where we’re from or our hobbies and passions. Even if those statements about ourselves are true, there is much more to give as an answer that just a plain and simple statement. As we go through stages of life, the answer to that question may vary in a negative or positive way. Growing up as a kid, my dream was to be a professional baseball player and nothing else, because that is all I grew up knowing. My dad passed onto me his passion for sports, especially baseball and football. When I became a player myself, he and the rest of my family were my number one supporters throughout my childhood and my teenage years. Even if I recently stopped playing baseball, it will always be one of my biggest passions and entertainments. I spent days, weeks, months, and years playing baseball and that easily shaped me into a better teammate by showing me what it truly means to work together to achieve success. It helped me find patience and tolerance for mistakes, by showing me and that you can’t always be a winner but you can always learn something new from losing. I believe losing small battles can help you find new ways to win wars, and that’s something I live by and that I compare to my life. As humans we all find battles in our everyday lives, some bigger than others. However, it’s those battles that shape us into who we are and prepare us for bigger conflicts in the future and bigger situations and experiences. As a kid you live life everyday freely, creatively and naively until one day you’re asked to grow up and you notice that the things you used to be so passionate about slowly slip away. Some you’re able to let go and others you simply can’t. However, this phase is called growing and maturing. You start to experience things differently and you view the world from a different perspective based on personal experiences. Losses and gains that happen throughout our lives have a huge impact on our characters and personalities. That’s why the person I am today is so much more different that the young boy who was trying to achieve his dream. As I grew up, I realized there is more to life than just baseball, or sports, or winning. Baseball was part of my outside until I started looking at my inside. I began looking at myself on a personal level and noticed the traits that made me who I am. I realized that the same teammate I was, who hit home runs or scored touchdowns, was also a caring and sensitive person outside of the baseball field. The same person who went to practice everyday, also found time to study and managed to spend time with his loved ones. I found myself an understanding friend, son, boyfriend, student and sibling that was always present during good and bad times. I found myself smart and responsible in and outside of the classroom, in and outside of the field, in and outside of the house and everywhere I went. Even as a reserved and introverted person, I noticed myself make connections and relationships with the people most similar to me and accepted the people who were the complete opposite of me. I found myself compassionate and generous and those who know me most definitely know that the last thing I would ever want to see is someone be in a hard or difficult place, that’s why I always put an effort in being the best version of myself; not only for myself but for those around me as well. I see my kindness when I try my hardest to put a smile on someone’s face even when they want to do everything but smile in that specific moment. It’s not hard to deny that good traits also come with bad ones and I notice that during difficult times for myself. I believe that difficult times are mainly who shaped me into the person I am today. Stressful moments in my life bring out the worst in me, but at the end of the day I realize that I shouldn’t overthink what I have no control over. The reactions I have to negative situations and the impact they have on me are something that I don’t easily forget, which also makes me acknowledge my sensitivity and how deeply I feel things when they happen. Throughout my eighteen years of life, I had the chance to observe the negative and bad people in my life and I set them as a reminder of who I don’t want to become. I understand, as everyone should, that no one is perfect, but there is always room for change and improvement in our lives. I also understand that social media doesn’t always portray people as they are and the only way to truly get to know someone is by genuinely talking to them and trying your best to understand and accept them. Frankly, I don’t use social media as much as the rest of people my age may use it, and that’s because I think that being emerged in a world full of comments, pictures and judgments may not be the best thing for my mental health. I don’t plan on judging or believing to know someone based on the prejudice that comes with technology. The person I am today was shaped by a number of various life experiences, lived in the real world, and dealt with personally. Social media was never a big part of my life and development, as it is for most people. The man I am today is a better and more mature version of the same seven and sixteen year old baseball player with the dream of being noticed by the rest of the world one day. The man I am today realized that big actions aren’t necessary to be noticed and accepted, but the small ones that I do when no one is watching say a lot about me. The man I am today is ambitious and hardworking in all senses; I no longer let myself down unless I know I tried my best in all things and put my biggest effort in all I do. As a young man, I realize that I am nowhere near done growing up but I understand that the things I’ve lost and accomplished so far will help me in future situations. As in Plato's Cave wrote by Susan Sontag, she states "It hardly matters what activities are photographed so long as photographs get taken and are cherished." What this quote means to me is that no matter what you do in life always remember what you did because one day it might mean something to you or even more. Even if the picture is something that you remember being a bad day, a bad game, or even a good day/game; you can learn something from it making it more memorable.

Works Cited

Sontag, Susan. “In Plato’s Cave.” On Photography, Dell Publishing, 1977, pg.8. Composition Flipped, writing101.net/flip/wp-content/resources/documents/sontag-in-platos-cave.pdf.