Who Am I?

A couple weeks ago in my creative writing class, my professor asked us (the other students and I) this question: Who Am I?

The basis of the exercise was to come up with a description of yourself to give the others an idea of who you are as an individual. You got the normal answers like "I'm 20 years old" or "I'm a Gemini" along with "I'm a shy person"/ "I'm a talker." After we had all read out our intros she looked at  us again and asked the same question. Obviously we all just sat there. Didn't we just at length read out the facts of our lives? And then I realized. I still didn't know anything about the other students around me. Sure I knew their names and ages and even how many siblings they had. But those are things that could be found in other people.

So that left us with the obvious question, how can you really...truly...define yourself? What is the essence of you? What makes you different to anyone or everyone else for that matter? I could tell you my hopes and dreams; where I lived and who my friends were; what my parents did for a living, but would that tell you who I am? Would that make you able to say "She's unlike anyone else I've ever met."?

So the next time someone asks you, "Who are you?" really sit and think about it. Make sure that you're giving them an answer that makes them sure of who you are and tells them exactly what they need to get the essence of you. Unless you're trying to hide all that, in which case that's a post for another time.