Personality Reflection On The Self

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Personality Reflection on the self Personal Reflection on the Self Terry L. Byrd PSY/400 January 9, 2012 Leah Reagan Personal Reflection on the Self Our concept of self is highly influenced by our social experiences, developing our self-concept, self-esteem, and self-efficacy. The two social experiences that affected my life are my parents’ divorce and an abusive marriage. When my parents divorced it made me feel as if society saw me as damaged. My self-esteem was shattered due to feelings of being different and unlovable. My second experience was marrying at 18 to an abusive man which now I feel was my reaction to how I felt about myself and my need to have someone love me. When I was around the age of 12 my parents divorced and my sisters and I lived with my mother for a while and then eventually with my father. It was a brutal divorce and harsh words about my mother were often spoken by my father and grandmother. For reasons I will never understand they felt it necessary for us to think our mother did not love or want us and never had. Until then my self-esteem was high I was a confident outgoing child. After the divorce I felt damaged and different than other children at times even ashamed of my situation. My self-efficacy became the girl who was not good enough to run for home coming queen or sports queen. I became the girl who was damaged and unlovable. Most of the responsibility of raising my younger sisters feels to me. While other teenagers were going to parties and hanging out I was home with my sisters. It seemed I did not fit into society as normal. How could I tell my friends I could not attend an event because my sisters needed me at home because we did not have a mother to care for us? My father knew nothing of shopping for teen girls so my wardrobe suffered beyond belief. When he did take me shopping his taste and mine clashed and I was
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