Thelma Lizeth Cárdenas Macías

In my point of view, identity is formed by different elements such as: family, friends,
culture or the country where you live and in general, society, since, when we are born our
identity is being formed by what we learn throughout our growth, however, when we reach
an age where critical thinking is developed in the individual, from everything that was
taught, certain elements that the person agrees with are taken and that also forms the
identity.

Personally, the tasks that were very influential for the formation of my identity were my
family and the education they gave me, as well as the beliefs they instilled in me, because,
thanks to that education and the beliefs they taught me, I was able to form my identity.
Since I was five years old I was raised in the Christian religion, so, every Sunday was a day
to go to church and as I grew up that faith was fixed more to my identity, however, when I
was 13 years old many doubts arose in me about whether I really identified with that
religion or I just believed because I was educated that way since I was very small,
Nevertheless, I was able to affirm that I believe in God because of my own decision and not
because my parents instilled it in me, even though they were an important factor for me to
know about God, finally my faith that shapes my identity was chosen by me; That is why I
believe that identity depends on your ability to question what you have been taught for a
long time and finally choose whether it is something you identify with or not.

From my point of view, the family is a fundamental factor for identity, either for good or
for bad, that is to say, the family can be an influential element in the identity of an
individual for good when they educate him/her with values or there is a good family
environment, or for bad when there is no good support or there are certain situations that
make it difficult for the family to be something good for a person, that is why the family
area was also an influential element in my life for my identity, since I am a person very
close to my family, so they influenced a great part of who I am today. Personally, my
parents instilled in me good values and provided a good education, that is, thanks to what
they taught me today I can be a person with empathy, respect, solidarity, humility, and
tolerance, which in large part is something that forms my identity, because if I hadn’t had
that education from my family my identity would be in another completely different place.

Identity is influenced in an important way by friends, since they are an essential part for a
social human being, however, in adolescence, friends are an even more important part of
identity, because at this age we look for a sense of belonging to a social group, so
sometimes we even change the essence of what we are trying to fit into what is imposed in
society, which can cause a "false identity" to call it somehow; When I was a teenager I tried
to fit into a profile with which I did not identify myself but with which I could achieve a
sense of belonging to a social group, however, as I matured in my critical thinking I could
understand that it was not really something with which I identified myself.

And last but not least, culture in which an individual develops also contributes a lot to the
formation of identity because, we as human beings are social beings, so, in the place or
society in which we do not develop we will acquire certain elements of that society for our
identity, for example, it is not the same as it feels identified in Mexican to how an
American feels identified because the culture is not the same and the history is not the
same, which is why the identity depends on where you are developing because each
different places. Personally, my culture identifies me a lot because, as a Mexican I like
tacos, pozole or most Mexican food, something that would be less likely to happen if I lived
somewhere else.
In conclusion, there are many elements that form the identity of a person, but ultimately the
decision of what they attribute to themselves for their identity and what not, rests in each
individual. It is difficult to put into words an exact definition of identity, since it is versatile
and depends on each person what he/she considers as identity; For example, I relate identity
with faith and family, but another person can define identity with something completely
different, for that reason, I believe that identity cannot be defined or pigeonholed in a single
concept because that would be saying that everything else that does not fit into that concept
is not identity, so, in my point of view, identity will depend on the experiences that each
individual has in his life and that each one wants to appropriate those experiences as
identity.