Follow-up: Why are you who you are?

This exercise was originally posted at: http://maritimeorca0.blogspot.com/2013/02/why-are-you-who-you-are.html

The Task

Answer the question: What has influenced who you are?

In a previous exercise, I asked you to answer the question, “Who are you?” It’s time to go into a little more depth. Why are you who you are?

As with all questions regarding who you are, this question is more challenging and more valuable if you are honest with yourself.

My Answer to Who are you?

I am a social outcast as a result of my refusal to allow others to tell me what to think and believe.

My Answer to Why are you who you are?

I spent a portion of my life allowing others too much control over my life. I eventually discovered that I was unable to think for myself. I didn’t want to view myself as an idiot, so I worked on turning myself around. The drawback to establishing my thought process is that I no longer fit who others demanded that I become.
 

Notes

My reasoning for being a social outcast was already included in my answer to the original exercise. While I repeated the reason in my answer to the new exercise, my primary goal was to explain why I don’t let others tell me what to think and believe.

  By the way, this is my first exercise in which I ask you to build off of the answer to a previous exercise. It will not be my last. If you want to be prepared for Self-Exploration challenges of the future, I highly recommend that you keep up the exercises as they are posted. I am currently posting to this category every five months.
 

Feel Free to Comment

Now that this exercise has concluded, feel free to share any thoughts that you had regarding results, your approach, and any other ideas that popped in your head regarding this exercise.
 

Upon completion of this exercise, please fill out the following form:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dEdoSUxNUXg1cnlmWC1Ub2ZkdDlnX0E6MA
Responses to the above form are collected and stored in a spreadsheet that can be viewed at:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0Agcdh--NHOS0dEdoSUxNUXg1cnlmWC1Ub2ZkdDlnX0E&output=html