Narrative Essay #2

Identity

Prompt: What 2 worlds do you balance between?

Focus skill: Incorporate parallelism into your story. This could be at the sentence or
paragraph level. You should also aim to include any skills mentioned and practiced in
prior narratives

I find myself balancing myself between the worlds of wanting to live and

enjoy the natural flow of society, and wanting to stray away from being an

average person. On one hand, I find myself trying to rise above what is normal

out of having the fear of living a forgettable existence, whereas on the other, I

find myself content with my current state, and attempt to not rush myself. At

times I prefer to become complacent with the rush of life and enjoy its simplicity

and the fact that I’m just a small part of it. This is again contradicted by the fact

that I want to become something greater than my surroundings, and not just

simply live in them. Both lifestyles have the potential and probability to provide

the regular standards of human joy, yet the means upon which they provide them

may vary drastically.

My family, for the last 70 or so years, have lived pretty standard and

normal lives. My great grandparents built a house on plum island where each of

their children bring their own sub-families to live at for 2 weeks every summer.

When the family is at the house, nobody cares about their job, car, or bank

balance, we just have fun by being there. Beauty can be found in the simplicity of

regular life, having company around you and loving interpersonal relationships is

all one truly needs to be happy. There is a roof over our heads, food on our plate,
and we are all together as one big family. Life is balanced and normal, dreaming

big is absent yet all the foundational and standard beacons of happiness are

present in life.

On the contrary to the normal which my family has adjusted to, I find part

of myself yearning for an unusual life. A lifestyle that I classify as unusual would

bring physical and emotional experiences separate from the average person, and

ones that many will never find themselves experiencing. As a kid, I dreamt of

becoming a professional athlete and becoming extremely rich, and as of my

more recent years, I have a desire to become a professional fighter or seek a

more nature based lifestyle. Although I want to have the security that a normal

life provides, a life that is different from the chains of regularity lacks the safety

that this lifestyle provides. The risk is really serious, and there is no real certainty

that one wouldn’t end up hurt or homeless. Life is like living a big risky dream, yet

extraordinary sources of happiness and self-pride can reveal themselves by

seeking this lifestyle.