Hall - Assignment 25

Sometimes it feels like I'm not a real person at all. Does that make sense? No, it doesn't, does it? Let me rephrase. Sometimes I feel like I'm more of a coalition of multiple people, than just one person.

I share a lot of traits with my mom. I mean sure, we look alike, but I mean less "physical traits" and more "personality traits." Both bad and good. I speak directly, and sometimes bluntly, like my mother. I have my mother's laugh and my mother's humor. I'm a geek like my mom, but I'm an athlete like her too. But I also lose myself in work like my mom, and get really stressed out like her, and emotionally shut down like her too. I also share my mother's patient but volatile temper and her sharp tongue. But I wouldn't be who I am without those traits.

While I don't talk about my father as a man often, I share a lot of traits with him too. He's a geek too, but we share Spiderman as our favorite superhero. I share my father's big dreams and lack of time management, his loud, carrying voice and his occasional rambling. But I also share his arrogance, his excessive pride, and his impulsivity. I hold a grudge like my father, I stand my ground even when I'm wrong like my father. But I wouldn't be who I am without those traits.

I've gained traits from my family and my friends, whether that be competitiveness, tenacity, kindness, ambition, or overprotectiveness. My granny, my mom's mom, who passed little bits of her Kansas accent to me, says I "speak all South" when I'm angry. My grandma, my father's mother, who passed Indiana phrases on to me, says I "get proper" when I'm defensive. My mother, who never quite picked up a Kentucky accent when she moved here, loves to tease me when "my country comes out." 

As odd as it is to say, I also have gained many traits from television, movie, and book characters, or celebrities I may never know. Whether it's just words and phrases, a new perspective of thinking about a situation, a fashion style, or a mannerism. Having these external influences has shaped me into the person I am. 

So could I define myself for you? No. I really couldn't, because my story, my being, is just a mix of everyone else's. And I hope that makes more sense.