Self Concept

Self-Concept

My name is Paul Buchanan. I am a nineteen year old male who currently lives in Hillsboro Oregon. I was born in Puyallup Washington and lived there up until the first day of sixth grade. I then moved down to Hillsboro Oregon due to my father taking up a job offer with Intel. I enjoy to go bowling, playing video games and hanging out whenever I can with my friends. Throughout this essay I will be discussing my "self-concept" with three communication concepts. They are as follows: self-fulfilling prophecies, uncertainty reduction theory and social comparison.

Emerson once said that a man should not be what he is not. There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide. If a man is envious of other people, he will ignore all merits of himself. If a man imitates other people, he will lose his identity - like suicide. It is common to find a man like me envious of other people. I used to constantly compare myself socially to those around me. Once in middle school I found myself being jealous of the popular kids in class. I am jealous if a classmate gets a higher score on tests. I am jealous if my neighbor has a better car. But as I always find out, when I praise those kinds of people, people will say you are beautiful, too ; when I praise the classmate, people will say remember you got a higher score last time ; when I praise the car of the neighbor, people will say "your car is just as nice if not better". There is always a the better side of myself, which I cannot see because it is hindered by my own jealousy. Imitation is the result of jealousy.

They make their own decisions and I make mine. While I have confidence in myself, I will never have an ambition out of all proportion of my practical force . I am the best person to discover myself, knowing what I have and what I do not , what I can do and what I cannot. I will always do that which is assigned to me; I will not hope too much or dare too much. Where do I want to go? I am not sure. The I inside myself is changing every day, every hour, every second, every moment. I love the old saying, the most delightful and enjoyable part of a journey is not the destination, but the journey itself".

Once I reach the destination, I will have a new destination, another adventure. Most important of all, I rely only on myself on these journeys. I will be alone, but I will not feel lonely, because I must be myself . Thus they will be my journeys, not anyone else's. I will never sacrifice my life, my belongings and my feelings to others; I will never contribute myself to the society, because Society never advances ; I will be honest to myself and everybody, never hiding my feelings and aversions. I will have peace in myself and only I can assure that. What do I need to accomplish my goals and finish my journeys to meet my destiny? Self-Reliance is the answer. Self-Reliance will be in all aspects of my life, religion, education and pursuits. In my religion, I will have my own God, who can be reached with my own heart, instead of a priest or a relative. I will never pray for the benefit of myself, like a car, a house, or a fortune. I will never give out my sympathy to anyone who does not need it because a real self-helping person will never accept love and sympathy from others. In my education, I will start learning from where I am. In my pursuits, I will never imitate others. I will never rely on Fortunes , because nothing