It's My Life student autobiography

The recent COVID- pandemic has illustrated the need the better understand family dynamics and origins. Here, the pandemic provided a catalyst that allowed millions of individuals to rekindle relationships with both friends and family. It is this family dynamic that ultimately allows individuals to increase their overall self-identity and awareness. It is through these experience that individuals within society can obtain a better appreciation about the life events that have impacted their family and community. These experiences ultimately impact many of the views, values and beliefs of individuals within the family. When reviewing my own personal family history, I found it fascinating how many of the elements and experiences of older members influenced those of subsequent generations. Here, the intangible elements of actions and beliefs can heavily influence those in later generations. From conducting this exercise, I personally recognized the importance of behaviors, habits, and beliefs on generations that will follow.

To begin, my immediate family is from Europe. My mother is from France and my father is from Germany. My father was a member of the “Heer” or German army. Here, he served 22 years until his eventual retirement when I was in college. While on an overseas mission he met my mother. Soon after, I was born, along with one brother and one sister. I am the oldest with my brother and sister both 2 and 3 years younger, respectively. My mother was a school teacher and thus we had a very strong family dynamic. Our household was very traditional as it relates to western standards of familial relationships. My dad, was the primary source of income for the family. He provided the financial assistance along with the disciplinary guidance. My mother, was heavily involved in the household and heavily nurtured all of us while my father was out on deployment. I lived in Germany of most of my adolescent life. My family was heavily involved in the church and were devote Christians. My father was heavy into religion and often held leadership positions within the church. This interestingly caused further complications in my personal development.

As a younger child, I was unable to recognize how beneficial my living conditions were. I had a two parent household with both parents providing significant benefits to my development. I had structure with my father being in the military. My family, from a socio-economic perspective was in the upper middle class with both of my parents generating above average incomes. In addition, my parents were very cordial towards one another. I rarely saw them argue or fight which provided me with a false sense of normalcy as it relates to relationships. In my younger years, I simply expected all relationships to be similar to my family. I would later find that my family was the exception to the rule.

During my teenage years, my family immigrated to America. Here, I found that many of the more customer or routine family behaviors were rare within the United States. From a school aged child until adolescence, my family structure was very rigid. Having two parents with very structured professions allowed both me and my siblings to live a very uneventful childhood. We never suffered from an unexpected layoff like many of my peers. We never had to work through a divorce or unexpected family separation. Our finances were always in order as we needed went without having to sacrifice too much as a family. This all changed once we moved to America.

From my personal experience, the first major change that I found in my teenage years was the heavy emphasis of competition and individuality. In Germany, my father was in the military and as such we wore uniforms to school. Here, the uniform was a basic white polo shirt with a khaki shorts or pants. All the children wore the same attire to school. However, in America, I was heavily exposed to the excessive consumerism that permeates the society. My peers made fun of me as I didn’t have the latest designer cloths. They ridiculed me for being smart and even the color of my skin. This was a very significant milestone for me, which required a large amount of internal reflection and tough conversation with my parents. Here, I struggle with what society demanded of me and what my internal experiences believed to be correct. In many instances, both of these elements were juxtaposed against one another. For example, my parents emphasized being frugal but society wanted me to spend money of “designer” clothes and outfits. My parents emphasized continual learning, but my peers ridiculed me for being “too smart.” My parents wanted me to pursue my passions whatever they may be but American society seemed to give more glory to actors, athletes, and entertainers. They never seemed to give the same amount of importance to nurses, teachers, or policemen, who in my opinion, are collectively more important. To overcome this, I had to ignore many of peers and listen heavily to my parents in order ensure my success in school.

When comparing my early life to my present-day life, the first element of difference is economic environment. Here, as an older adult, I am much more aware of the capital markets as I am entering the stage of family development. I am much more cognizant of costs, marriage, home ownership, and asset accumulation. This is a stark contrast to my earlier years in which I was simply interested in women, video games, and academic performance. This transition has occurred naturally due in part to my upbringing. My parents heavily emphasized education along with financial acumen. As I became older, I naturally transitioned into these areas as I looked to obtain financial freedom. This is important as my parents help to instill a need to help develop future generation by delivering useful and needed services. As a result, I have developed a need to continue to manifest and develop my talents not simply for my sake, but for those that come after me. This is large difference from my earlier years where the major emphasis as on my own development with regard to others.