Journey to Oneself: Risks of College Career in Discovering Personality - Essay Example

Why do you think Fr. Lawton says the ‘‘journey to be oneself’’ seems the riskiest of all journeys? What risks lie ahead in your college career as youembark on the ‘‘adventure’’ of discovering and becoming yourself? LMU’s President Fr. Robert Lawton, S.J. made a significant observation when he said that the “journey to be one self” is the riskiest of all journeys that a human being undertakes. From my personal experiences, I totally agree with Fr. Robert Lawton’s remarks because I have found it myself that one’s journey to be oneself provide various risky elements.

The influence of other human beings on the personality as well as character of an individual is a normal phenomenon with regard to the development of human personality. However, if one mislays one’s true personality or self, it is often a risky affair to achieve it back and my experience of brining up illustrates this fact. During my young age, I have always found great relief in the life example set by my elder sister and I often followed her footstep in nearly every aspect of my life. To me, I was doing the best thing as I could not go wrong when I follow my elder sister and my sister influenced several of my personality traits as well as mannerisms.

However, as I grew up beyond my young age, I came to realize that following my sister’s footstep always kept me in her shadow and that I was slowly losing my true personality. This was a pertinent realization in my life as I decided to get out of my comfort zone and begin to explore and reflect on my life and its various aspects. However, it was not an easy task to slowly recover from the cultivated habits and personality-traits of my being and I worked hard to recognize my true personality and character.

Every time I try to deal with some fundamental elements of my personality which I gained from the influence of my elder sister, I realized how deep these traits of her personality were rooted in my character. Therefore, I can clearly understand what Fr. Robert Lawton means when he argues that the “journey to be one self” is the riskiest of all journeys that a human being undertakes. In a reflective examination of Fr. Lawton’s remark that the “journey to be one self” is the riskiest of all journeys, I realize that various types of risks lie ahead in my college career as I embark on the ‘‘adventure’’ of discovering and becoming myself.

As aforementioned, I grew up as a child who depended greatly on my elder sister for inspiration as well as guidance with regard to every element of my personality. The riskiest side of my journey to my true self, i.e. my ‘‘adventure’’ of discovering and becoming myself, is that I tend to be in the shadows of my sister when I make my opinion about people and situations around. Thus, I eventually have the feeling of insecurity and of being lost when people talk about me or when I am required to perform an important task.

I often crave for the presence of my sister to guide me again or to strengthen me in my journeys ahead. Now I realize that the journey towards becoming oneself is not at all easy, and one must be prepared psychologically and emotionally to meet the challenges in this endeavor. In order to become a risk taker and successful individual in the “journey to be one self”, an individual has to broaden his awareness, open up to new possibilities, step out of the comfort zone and gain information other than what he already ‘knows’.

Therefore, I realize that there are various types of risks ahead in my college career as I embark on the ‘‘adventure’’ of discovering and becoming myself.