Y HIGH
5 LH FEATURE MAGAZINE
October 12, 2023
Struggles with Individuality
With being a twin, comes a struggle with individuality. Since birth, many twins have been forced to share things. A birthday, toys, and in some cases, a nearly identical face. Because of this, according to Will, twins may view individuality differently. “We have different things we do for sure” Will Karr ‘25 says. “He’s way more school oriented and I don’t really Nina Peterson ‘25 says. “I don’t think that [having a twin] is objectively worse than having an older sibling or love school. There’s other things like cross country. He runs every day, has a strict schedule, and I’m just doing a younger sibling.” “It’s in most ways similar, but whatever I want. We’re very similar, but in other ways [different].” I think it can be a little bit In the fight to find oneself while having someone so more intense. You’re in the similar to them, it’s not abnormal to try harder than the same grade, we have a lot of the same inter- average person. “I [felt like I] have to do stuff to try and make myself ests. It’s kind of built in more individual” Julia Shannon ‘26 says. competition in a way Although Nina and Nicole are able to see each other’s which can be a really differences, due to them being twins, that isn’t the case for good thing if you’re outsiders. talking about sports “It depends on the person because I know that it gets and academics. That can hard when people can’t tell us apart. There are definitely kind of push you to be people that can tell us apart, whether it’s by appearance better. But it can be a bit much sometimes” or by “vibes.” For people that don’t know us very well, it’s kind of a tendency to sort of see us as the twins, just kind Nina says. of as an entity. For people that know us really well, they do see us as individuals. We can also be treated as a team, a unit. When people don’t know us really well, that can happen” Nicole Peterson ‘25 says.
Outro
Twins have a special bond due to their shared strugles. Despite the differences between twin and non-twin relationships, it’s clear that being a twin is a very enjoyable experience for most. “It’s just like having another friend. [Life is] not gonna be any different because you have a twin.” You’re still separate people.” Will says.
