Writing an essay about yourself may often be difficult and embarrassing. After all, it means that you have to look at yourself from outside, as a stranger, and write in an impartial and analytical manner – something most people hardly ever do. The other complicated thing about such essays is that you somehow have to cram your entire life experience in a couple of paragraphs. How does one summarize one’s own life? Let’s take a look at a myself essay example to get a better idea.
My name is Michael Taylor, I am a senior in high school and intend to enter a university next year.
For as long as I can remember myself, foreign languages have always been my favorite subjects at school and my primary interests overall. Starting with a Spanish program in elementary school, I have always been fascinated by the existence of multiple languages and their deep-rooted similarities and differences. For example, there are concepts that simply don’t exist outside one particular language, and at the same time most languages, even unrelated ones, use the same basic set of categories. Knowing languages other than your native one is like trying out samples of other worldviews – something you can never do with just one perspective.
In secondary school, I additionally studied German, but currently my real long-lasting interest lies with East Asian languages. What started as a fascination with anime and Japanese movies grew into a deep-rooted interest in Japanese culture, history and, most importantly, language.
Unfortunately, my current school doesn’t offer Japanese courses, so I’ve been self-studying the language for the last two years, using online educational programs and communicating with native speakers both on- and offline. Seeing that my interest in the subject has not abated, I fully intend to center my future around it. Next year I am going to enter a university, and I will do my best to get into a school offering a strong education in East Asian studies. I am not sure where it will lead me in the long run; for now I simply intend to have a career that will allow me to work with foreign languages and sample other cultures. My current goal is to finally learn Japanese properly and then move on to other East Asian languages, starting with Mandarin Chinese.
Seeing how much trouble many people have with learning new languages and judging by the relative ease with which it comes to me, I believe that I have found my primary purpose in life. Japanese and Chinese are often regarded as examples of languages that are especially hard for Western learners, but I feel not so much intimidated but rather enthusiastic about them. I believe that finding one’s purpose in life, building your life around your talent and doing the best possible job of it are the most important things you can do – and I am lucky to have figured mine out so early.
References
- Anderson, L. (2011). Autobiography. Milton Park, Abingdon: Routledge.
- Arthur, J. and Peterson, A. (2012). The Routledge companion to education. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
- Hamilton, N. (2012). How to Do Biography: A Primer: Massachusetts, USA: Harvard University Press
- Huddart, D. (2008). Postcolonial theory and autobiography. London: Routledge.
- Marshall, C. and Marshall, D. (2007). The Book of Myself A Do-It-Yourself Autobiography in 201 Questions: New York, USA: Hachette Books
- Roorbach, B. (2008). Writing Life Stories: How to Make Memories into Memoirs, Ideas into Essays and Life into Literature: Cincinnati, Ohio: Writer’s Digest Books.
- Tanabe, G. and Tanabe, K. (2009). How to Write a Winning Scholarship Essay 30 Essays That Won Over $3 Million in Scholarships: San Jose, USA: SupercCollege, LLC