Blog Post 2

I am sitting here in Barnes and Noble analyzing everything about my personality and attempting to trace each trait back to a beginning. I have spent more time then I'd like to admit on this very topic. Questions like 'Why am I like this?', 'Why did I just do that', 'Why did I say that?', often cross my mind. Something that is puzzling to me is the fact that almost every single aspect of my personality I can find in one of my parents. It is something kind of freaks me out: firstly because I would hate to think I am just a copy of them and secondly because I am right in the middle of the nature vs nurture debate. However, when I pick any part of me, I distinctly see one of them. I have a hard time giving up on things no matter how bad I am at an activity or how hopeless a situation is. That goes directly to my dad who literally will never drop a task ever. He is the most persistent man I know. Furthermore, I bite my tongue almost always. I never outwardly express anger or annoyance with a person that I love. Well, neither does my mom.  She is super unconfrontational and can hold her temper even better than me. I am randomly super good at math (despite my loathing of the subject), which comes from my dad. I have a deep rooted rebellious side which my mom also seemed to have during her adolescence. These qualities about me were ones that I have had for as long as I can remember, and I chalk it up to genetics because I can't remember a time where I didn't have them.

Furthermore, I find myself to be the ultimate (sometimes contradictory) combination. My mother is a fairly religious person, and I now identify myself has religious too. My father is a driven scientist who specializes in behavioral neurology and I find that I also have that same love from empiricism. As a child, my infatuation for discovery was always there, but it wasn't highlighted ever in my education or the activities I was involved in. My religious attributes, however, were. I was more involved with my faith. I was often times praised for it and was seen as a good child, which I enjoyed quite a bit. I was a classic middle child so the attention was always appreciated. As I got older, I found myself enjoying different activities more. I would go to the lab with my father, spend a lot of time reading science literature, and focused more in school. My mother wasn't the biggest fan of this change, as I was sort of leaving her behind, and I felt that my religious community wasn't either. My attendance at the mosque became more scarce, and as a teenager I felt different from the rest of my community. Now, as an adult in college pursuing a biology degree, that feeling is almost completely gone. I actually feel more respected for my empiricist view points and my love for science. I also think that my passion for research and discovery has changed my personality and I believe that who I am would be completely different had I taken a different route. That isn't to say that I am no longer a religious person. My religion will always be a part of me, however, now as medicinal science advances more and more, I tend to rely on something more than faith.

Growing up where and how I did, pursuing my passion for discovery wasn't encouraged as much as it is now.