Let\u2019s face it: diversity makes the world go round. It is a driving force of both tradition and change; without it, society would be boring and it wouldn\u2019t be able to move forward. When diversity is boiled down to one core construct, I think it would be identity. A person\u2019s identity is built out of so many factors that are a combination of one\u2019s genetics, personal experiences, hobbies, likes, dislikes, and environment. These all contribute to creating your perspective on how you view the world and yourself; the possibilities are never static and always endless.<\/p>\n
So let\u2019s start with my own identity. If I could simplify the very complicated \u201cme\u201d into a few simple roles, I would identity myself as a student, a sister, daughter, yogi, and adventurer. Every one of these roles have a direct influence to how I view the world. As a student, I am always open to learning lessons from new experiences and a wide array of teachers. If there\u2019s one lesson that\u2019s really stuck with me, it\u2019s that teachers can come in all shapes and forms, whether it may be a professor, my first taxi driver in a new city, or my 9-year-old little brother. As a sister, I am compassionate and endlessly patient. My siblings have taught me that everyone, regardless of their upbringing, has their own life story and personal struggles, and it\u2019s never my job to judge. As I daughter, I am respectful, loving, and grateful; my parents have taught me everything I know (most importantly, how to love unconditionally) and have given me every opportunity I have been fortunate enough to experience. They have given me a beautiful life, and for that I wake up every day with infinite gratitude. As a yogi, I am flexible (most importantly, mentally flexible) and I know how to take a deep breath and enjoy every moment, including the struggles. Sometimes the most important lessons and breakthroughs happen during those moments of uncomfortable, shaking, sweat-inducing struggles, and to me that\u2019s what life is all about. Finally, as an adventurer, I am always trying to push myself out of my comfort zone and experience all that life has to offer me. With this in mind, I strongly believe that every person, whether his or her identity is extremely different or surprisingly similar to mine, experiences the word in many diverse ways.<\/p>\n
I always enjoy a good clash of identities, especially when I\u2019m meeting new people abroad. I\u2019m ready to experience studying in New Zealand, a world that is completely foreign and unlike anything I\u2019ve ever been exposed to, and I expect that this journey will not only strengthen, but diversify my personal identity. Moreover, I find it fascinating to learn about new perspectives when I meet people and I also tend to find out that we\u2019re all not so different. We are all constantly growing, experiencing, feeling, and trying to understand and create our own identity; everyone just goes through it all at their own pace.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Let\u2019s face it: diversity makes the world go round. It is a driving force of both tradition and change; without it, society would be boring and it wouldn\u2019t be able to move forward. When diversity is boiled down to one core construct, I think it would be identity. A person\u2019s identity is built out of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":506,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[134,190,249,273,313,342],"class_list":["post-7295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-otago","tag-diversity","tag-identity","tag-new-zealand","tag-pre-departure","tag-study-abroad","tag-university-of-otago"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/506"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7295"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7295\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15539,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7295\/revisions\/15539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}