Wednesday, April 9, 2008
The Formulation of One's Identity
How much can an individual control the developing of their identity? The identity of an individual is determined according to the individual characteristics by which a thing or person is recognized or known. We are all born with a set of physical characteristics that determine our outward identity, while how we were raised and in what culture/environment influences our inner ideals that direct our actions. Upon reaching adolescence, and taught that we are our own entity to develop, in what way can we cultivate ourselves into what we want to be? I’m currently writing an argument paper on the affects of leisure and whether passive or active leisure is a better choice in the formation of ones identity. Knowing that we can spend our free time in any way, leads me to conclude that our identity can be directed by the way we choose to spend our time. Many different cultures however, do not view this as possible or socially acceptable in some ways. Every generation has a trend to which people choose to spend their time, and more often than not, the one’s who passively live through life, may develop an identity crisis later on in life. By not spending enough time to establish your own idea’s about life, you will abide by the general knowledge presented to all, resulting in little difference in your identity and others who live their lives passively. If you choose to face challenges that are attainable, you will steadily build up knowledge and skills that will contribute to your identity. Spending your leisure actively will make you more unique to others regardless of the way they spend their time as a result of your individual findings about the challenges of life. These ideas were presented to me in my research for my paper. I’m not sure whether I’m right in that people who spend time in active leisure differ more from other people, regardless of their choice of leisure. What do you think?
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2 comments:
This post was a little confusing to me. I think that the topic could be a good one, except I didn't really understand your argument. We were all warned in our senior years that one of the hardest transitions into college life was learning how to spend your free time. Because this idea has been hammered into our minds, I think a lot of students could relate to what you are trying to say. I think if the writing was more straightforward and if you gave some examples, you would get a better response. It was hard for me to figure out exactly what you were talking about the first time I read it, so maybe you could improve it by making your point more clear.
Texas Mustang is right. The post is confusing for one reason: it stays on such a high level of abstraction. We need abstractions to express ideas, but at some point, you lose a reader if you don't bring your ideas down to a more concrete example, just as Csikszentmihalyi does when he tells the reader about the man named Joe. In this post, you could break it into two or three paragraphs, and give each one more specific development.
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