My Identity Narrative

Samihah Maven

“A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.” - Christopher Reeve

With that being said, I believe that one overwhelming obstacle that I have faced is with my identity. Growing up, I wasn’t the most popular or most aesthetically pleasing girl in the world… The thought of this began to occur to me when I was enrolled in elementary school.

Back then, I was teased and poked at for my teeth, nose structure and even my weight. This made second guess my appearance for a very long time and it even began to change the way I perceived myself.

Being that I’ve been enrolled in eight schools total in my life, fitting in wasn’t as easy as it seemed. I

I began to fall into the trap and tell myself that I was ugly and unappealing. I let the comments and opinions of others affect the way I think of myself .. It affected my confidence, my credence towards myself. So, I started to pick my eyebrows. For a while, my mom didn’t notice them, but as time began to move along.. she did. I had already picked one-third of my eyebrows!

She couldn’t quite grasp why I would commit such a thing. Because I was so goofy and jolly at home, my mom never really knew what was going on in the inside. I told her it was because of my nervous test taking abilities. Which it was, but there was a deeper conclusion to my eyebrow picking addiction.

There was a conception that wasn’t seen in the eyes of my loved ones, nor the ones who teased me. The conception of me becoming aware of my insecurities … my flaws. Ordinarily, this is an obstacle that every teenage girl faces when overcoming puberty and becoming a woman, but this felt different to me. Which is why, I began to look for a solution to my obstacle of insecurity. One of the solutions I came across was to express

My dance teachers taught me lessons that couldn’t be taught in school or by my parents. In class, they taught me that beauty can not be obtained from appearance and that it is within. Although this lesson was essential to me, it was not the only lesson that was taught. For example, they also taught me to carry myself with grace and to always help others in need. Even though, by helping others in need in dance meant to help with stretching and with choreography, I took the initiative to take this lesson outside of the