Blog #11

Life stories can help shape and develop personal identity in a positive way. Julie Beck, a strong advocate for personal narratives, writes about how they are an essential and important part of all of us in her essay “Life’s Stories”. Every story is not equally prevalent in a person’s narrative, the specific events are not always what is important “but rather the way a person integrates those facts and events internally- picks them apart and weaves them back together to make meaning” (Beck). We pick apart our past stories and life events and find what is important to us, such as the lessons we learn and add those specific integrated facts into our narrative as we find connections. These integrations and connections can help us develop and find our own identities. In an interview with Lauren by Natalie Gray about her solo backpacking and camping trip she says that before this she did not feel she had much of a personal identity and on the trip she was forced to do things on her own she would not have normally done. Her take away from this experience was that she was able to develop a personal identity by gaining a sense of independence. The way we pick apart and integrate stories into our personal narrative have direct impacts on our identity and how we perceive ourselves.