Sometimes a person may feel that they have no purpose in life. Finding out who you are just takes the time of sitting down and thinking of the importance in your life. Who am I? I am Mercedes Kimberly Kingston, and I am a person with different personalities, characteristics, and identities. The many ways, in which I identify myself, in fact, are the ways that define who I am. My Identity is something only I can fully define. I have a little brother, which makes me a sister; I have two loving parents, which makes me a daughter; I am in college studying medicine, which makes me a student; and I have wonderful friends in desperate need of support, which makes me a wonderful best friend. Before anything, I am a big sister to...show more content...
It is seen as an essential part of learning and using what you learn in class. But when you get loads of class work and have very little time to finish it, then it becomes an unnecessary burden. Yet, sometimes, for me, it is the fact that I procrastinate that prevents me from completing a task. For college student, like myself who is working to pay for college, large amounts of class work usually brings lots of stress and fear of not being able to get good grades in many of my classes. Yet, I have support from my family, friends, and some peers who encourage me to put up a good fight in reaching my goal. I am a student that has gone through so much to get here, where I am. There were times that I had strong feelings that I would never be in college, just because of the negative energy I forced upon myself. Since pre–K, I have had this problem that if I can't do something I just give up, and stop trying. I still have this problem, but I have learned to get a control on it. The biggest problem was graduating from high school. I never thought that I would ever graduate. But I knew, as a student, I should at least try and show my teachers that I am putting effort. And now, I'm in college, studying pre–med, and hoping to become either a pediatrician, or a NFL Doctor. Growing up as a daughter to a single mom, was, I think, the best experience ever. I was, and am still, very spoiled. I always had everything that I ever wanted. And

There are three very important aspects that play a major rule in my life. They can be categorized as intellectual, social, and spiritual. My intellectual self is interesting because I am mainly right–brained which means that I tend to use my creativity more than my mathematical skills, also making me a visual learner. My social self consists of friends, family, and my surroundings. I spend most of my time at home with my family. Whenever I am with my friends, I observe their behaviors and listen to their opinions. I am more of an independent type of person. Being with different people has influenced me into appreciating different cultures and beliefs. I have learned things that have now been incorporated into my own set of beliefs and...show more content...
I find that I can only recall long–term memories if they are important to me, or if they are dramatic experiences. A few examples of my childhood memories are my mother reading to me, my grandfather playing his guitar, and my dad relentlessly teaching me how to ice skate, no matter how many times I fell. The people who affect my social life the most are my family and friends. I have an extremely close family that has played a major role in my life. They are whom I spend most of my spare time with. My family usually gathers every weekend for dinner. I am also very open to different religions, cultures, and practices because I know many people with different backgrounds and beliefs. Since I've been influenced by various people, I've learned at a very young age to never judge people by how they look, dress, feel, or act. I am very fortunate to have learned these lessons, because many people still do not understand the importance of accepting differences. In a group, I prefer to listen to what others have to say, and then contribute to the discussion. I try to listen so I am able to compare them to my own thoughts. I enjoy working in a group, because it gives everyone an opportunity to incorporate their own ideas. My social self is most greatly influenced by my family and friends. I believe that my spiritual self is the most important out of the three. Although I have a certain religion that I belong to and practice, I believe in a bit of

Just to think about self care can be a task in itself. I never really thought it about it, to be honest, but it is an essential part of living. We get so busy and caught up living in our everyday lives that we forget about the most important part, ourselves. I have two young kids ages 3 and 5, so my focus is always to take care of them and make sure their needs are met, forgetting about myself along the way. I think this assignment will help me to appreciate and not take for granted the things that I know I need to do for myself and to show love to the most important person, me. Stress management and self–soothing techniques are critical for surviving modern work–no matter the focus of the work. Psychotherapists tend to disregard their...show more content...
In class we discussed "saying no" being apart of our plans and I know that this is a must for me. At times I find myself running around like a chicken with its head cutoff. If only I had the courage to tell people no when I really need to the most. This will be tough for me but I know that it will help me have more time to do the things I love.
Although there are several things on my list that I am cringing over I will give it my all. What better way to be a good therapist? Starting the process of self–care now will hopefully alleviate future problems that I could face. I embrace this experience to create more self–love within. Setting out with determination and a clear understanding of my plan will hopefully create the motivation that I need to complete my goals. Knowing how I am, I have to take this day–by–day. If I do miss a task, instead of beating up on myself as I usually do I will commit to that task the following day. Its not so much doing the tasks that I am worried about because everything on my list I appreciate, it is finding the time to fit it all in. I think what will motivate me is knowing that if I can't help and take care of myself then how can I take care of my future clients. My ultimate goal after attending Antioch is of course helping others better their lives so I think this plan will give me a jumpstart in helping myself first. Get more content

Development of Self
The development of self starts at a very young age. When a preschooler is asked how are they different from other children, they usually look at their self concept. Self concept is their identity, of their set of beliefs about what they are like as individuals. Most preschoolers give inaccurate statements about their self concept. They usually overestimate their skills and knowledge. Preschool–age children also begin to develop a view of self that reflects their particular culture considers the self. An example of this would be to look at the different views as self between theWestern culture and the Asian culture. Western cultures believe that an individual should seek attention of others by standing out...show more content...
Children's views of self become more differentiated. As they get older, children discover that they may be good at some things and not so good at others. Children's self– concepts become divided into personal and academic spheres. During middle childhood children begin social comparison. Social comparison is the desire to evaluate one's own behavior, abilities, expertise, and opinions by comparing them to those of others. During middle childhood children deal with the crisis industry versus inferiority stage. The stage is characterized by a focus on efforts to attain competence in meeting the challenges presented by parents, peers, school, and other complexities of the modern world. This is a time of their life where the child develops a self esteem. Self–esteem in an individual's overall and specific positive and negative self–evaluation. Self concept reflects beliefs and cognitions about the self, self–esteem is more emotionally oriented. The self–esteem of most children tends to increase during middle childhood with a brief decline around age of 12. Some evidence shows that members of minority groups have lower self–esteem then those of the majority group. Children build a sense of self efficacy during their elementary years. Self efficacy refers to learned expectations that one is capable of carrying out a behavior or producing a desired outcome in a particular situation.
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School, to me and among many peers of my age, is not a distant term. I have spent one–third of my life time sitting in classrooms, every week since I was seven years old. After spending this much time in school, many things and experiences that happened there have left their mark in my memory. Some are small incidences while some have had a great impact on me. However, regardless the degree of significance, things that happened all contributed to shape the person that I am now. I was accused of cheating for the first time when I was seven years old. It was during the term final where the performance of the test indicates all the progress the student had made throughout the semester, so its importance was never over emphasized. Though...show more content...

Everything started anew, I was all by myself. While I was busy getting used to the school and making new friends, I also discovered a new passion, soccer. Through soccer I was able to meet some of my most loyal friends. We would often get together and play soccer against other classes. The school required a test for admission, so the competition was getting fierce. The teachers focused a lot on our academics and tried to squeeze as much time as they can from us to study. As the result, we were not allowed to play soccer during our free time because it hinders us from studying. Maybe it is human tendency to break laws, but the gang of us didn
в„ўt want to conform to that rule so sneaking a soccer ball to school and keep it away from the teachers became an everyday challenge. It was amazing the kind of ideas we came up with for this task. Soccer added spices into my otherwise boring school life, and it served as a channel between me and my fellow classmates. Through soccer we found a common ground, that we were able to know each other more and support each other no matter what happens. It gave us a sense of unity, and it was very important to me. Even now I cherish the pact I had with them back then– the support that helped me to stay on the right track during my rebel teenage years. My homeroom teacher at the time had the most impact on me than any other mentors I had. People say