My personality traits play a large role in my social change identity. I seek authentic meaning in my goals and pursuits and value authenticity in myself and others, which allows me to meet people where they are and embrace their own unique diversity. If my path doesn’t align with my purpose, I find it easy to redirect myself. I’m constantly reflecting on my life and brainstorming ways to improve, which helps my social change identity become more adaptable and goal oriented. My intrapersonal relationships are important to me, but I’m happy with myself and proud of my accomplishments because I am responsible for them. I’m just as happy in my own company as I am surrounded by those that I love. I have a love for life and a fondness for all things big and small, from sunsets and stars to bees and dandelions. All of this helps me to focus on the positive aspects of humanity while advocating to change the parts that aren’t just. I’m approachable and loving, which helps people feel safe in my presence and is a huge factor in my social change identity.

My lived experiences also factor in greatly to my social change identity. When I was growing up, I was placed on truancy for missing too much school, I was lectured for using a food stamp card at a corner store to buy chips and jerky without an adult, and children that I knew were often not allowed to associate with me. These experiences all weighed heavily on me, but they were all out of my control. I had drug-addicted parents that resulted in much neglect of me and my brother. My social change identity is often driven by a desire to make humans all feel like they have a purpose, meaning within their life, and are worthy of love and support. I feel like there are many groups of citizens that are treated lesser than simply because of circumstances they were born into, and this gives me a significant drive to advocate towards changing some of these circumstances and bringing awareness to the humanity within us all, regardless of our social class, race, religion, sexuality, etc.

Many of my social influences were heavily negative. I always say that the people in my life taught me who I didn’t want to be more than they modeled what I should be. My grandpa was sort of a beacon of hope throughout my childhood. He supported my decisions, celebrated my successes, and made me feel like someone loved me, which was enough to keep me going. However, he was a racist, homophobic, old man who was raised in traditional times believing women should be servants to their husbands. I didn’t agree with his views at all, but we were able to form a bond, nonetheless. Having this connection really saved my life, so now I advocate for better school systems that encourage children that may be lacking that encouragement at home. I advocate for programs that help children find a safe place to go if their home isn’t that. I advocate for mental health services for families that may be at risk due to life circumstances.

A willingness to be psychologically vulnerable has been the most difficult, but most rewarding journey I have ever been on. I used to be extremely angry at my parents for loving drugs more than myself. I used to be angry at the fact religions say there’s a god, but he never glanced in my direction. I used to be angry at the world for not stepping in when I desperately needed help. Becoming psychologically vulnerable, though, has caused me to really reflect on these things. My parents were dealt really awful hands in life too and they did not have the capacity to handle that themselves in a time where mental health was laughed at. I came to understand that they didn’t intentionally hurt me, they just drowned in their own hurt. I came to realize that I’m deeply spiritual and feel like life has a way of working out. The hard lessons I had to learn have brought me to a beautiful life that I’m now able to find so much gratitude in. Finally, perhaps the world was unable to help me as a child, but now I’m in a better position to help the children in the world today. Psychological vulnerability requires deep introspection, reflection, and very uncomfortable topics coming to the surface. I have found, though, that so much growth comes from a capability and willingness to uncover these difficult truths. Allowing myself to learn by being vulnerable has placed my social change identity on a path of advocacy for mental health programs being implemented into schools. If I had been able to understand my feelings earlier, I believe it wouldn’t have been so difficult as it was in my adult life. Our children deserve to learn early on how to become psychologically vulnerable to themselves.

I was forced to be resilient my entire life, but I developed a growth mindset in my emerging adulthood. Since I couldn’t control my past, I was determined to control my future. This led me down a path of personal growth and has invoked a magnitude of emotional intelligence within me. I have extreme amounts of empathy for those who were not born with a leg up. I feel so much sorrow when children are born to horrible parents. I feel strongly for creating a more equal and just society so perhaps people don’t have to turn to drugs to cope with stress. My social change identity is a conglomeration of my personality, my past, my relationships, and my values that together, inspire me to inspire others. My advocacy relies strongly on strengthening our communities and implementing programs to those who need them most. It truly takes a village, and it takes people who care to create and strengthen that village. We are all human and we must come together to make sure humanity has equal access and equal opportunities. We must love one another and advocate for one another to create a society we can all be proud of handing to our children.