From our infant to adolescent years, this generation has been heavily introduced to the idea of college being the foundation of self-discovery. Incoming freshmen flood college campuses, seeking a new beginning filled with adventure and self-revolution. The new beginning is centered on the idea of defining one’s identity. Identity is a broad word variously defined.
Identity can be thought of as a sociological belief that pushes one to self-label as part of a social group. Society as a whole can also push for labels. The term Identity incorporates two structures which are multi and mono identities. Multi-identity is defined as society’s overview or assessment of an individual while mono-identity or self-identity is an umbrella focusing on one’s self-reflection. Mono-identity is what most individuals seek during college.
Self-identity is globally referred to a time of coming to one’s understanding of themselves. Self-Identity is relatively composed of attributes such as: hobbies, time management, intellectual abilities, physical capabilities, decision making, and countless characteristics that make us who we are. This self-assessment incorporates past, present, and future accomplishments. These entitle us to fear, dreams, hopes, and everything in-between. Present and future behaviors are characterized by this assessment. This could even determine the kind of job, house, and spouse one may select in the future. Some may have witnessed their self-assessment at a very young age.
The media has historically and perfectly portrayed this idea of self-identification throughout one's college years. We see this in thrillers such as; Pitch Perfect, American Pie, Superbad, Dear White People, Drumline, Liberal Arts, Rudy, and many other flicks depicting college students being crazy, stupid, adventurous, and in love. Kids around the world sit around the television for hours visualizing how the next four or more years of their lives will turn out, but is college really the avenue to self-discovery? Could these four short years be the answer to one’s questions involving sex, love, and adulthood?
This vital time period in an individual's life pushes him or her outside their boundaries when it comes to voicing their opinions pertaining to race, religion, politics, social affairs, and much more. College brings the question of “who am I and what is my purpose?” if someone asked you “who are you”, would you immediately know the answer? You would probably refer to your morals and values, collected from observing yourself in society. I define self-identification as a college student’s elevator speech.
As an incoming college senior, I have witnessed and partaken in some of the craziest and enjoyable adventures. These innumerable adventures are what caused me to become aware of my likes and dislikes. The collection of these gave be a logic of self-identity. College is thought to be the Mecca for self-identification because college students are physical, academically, socially and mentally tested. These obstacles make college the most known place for self-discovery.
An Incoming college student might arrive completely lost and confused about what to say when being asked a simple question such as “can you tell me about yourself”. I’m not sure if I can fully and accurately answer this question. I am able to say that college has surely given me, along with other college students, a sense of self-enlightenment. The challenges we face and the people we connect with in college has helped us come closer and closer to defining our self-identity. Knowing who we are could completely be clear in a month, year, five years or maybe 50 years, but one thing is certain-- we will know an enormous amount about ourselves after we close that chapter of our lives. As you partake in your self-discovery journey, ask yourself “who am I?” and “what do I stand for?”
