essay on faith in yourself

Student Essays

5 Essays on Believe in Yourself | Self Belief, Meaning & Importance

Self belief is the most important thing in life which helps a person to fight against all odds and achieve success in their lives by leading a happy and contended life. Self belief does not come overnight, it comes with efforts and then only you can achieve your goal easily. Read the following short and long essay for students on self belief.

Essay on Self Belief | Meaning, Importance of Self Belief For Children and Students

Self belief is defined as a feeling or consciousness of one’s own powers or of reliance on one’s own efforts. In simple words, self-belief is a strong faith and confidence in yourself.

If you have self belief then others will believe that you can achieve anything what ever you want to do. You will feel strong and active within yourself. You will be able to face any difficult situation or circumstances with courage and confidence. You will not lose hope in your abilities and skills even if you face many hurdles on the way.

However, if you lack self-belief others will not have faith in you. You may not be able to make a success of your life because of lack of motivation and strength from within. In other words, this means that the road to success is only for those who do have a strong belief in themselves. Self-confidence without self-belief is of little use.

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Self belief is important for all of us because nobody can succeed without it whereas success is the only thing that can bring self-belief in you which will help you to cope up with any difficult situation.

Importance of Self Belief in Life

Five major reasons why self belief is important in life are:

1) Self Belief is important for a student because he has to work hard and get good grades in order to get a good job. In this competitive world, an average or below average student cannot find a suitable job easily. If you have strong belief in your abilities then you will have confidence in yourself that you can achieve anything what ever you want to. It is the self belief that makes a student responsible for his actions and decisions because, without having trust in oneself no one can be brave enough to take decisions confidently.

2) Similarly, when it comes to choosing a profession or taking any important decision in life, self belief is an important criterion. It will help you to take firm decisions and achieve success in your career by leading a happy and contended life.

3) If you have a strong belief in yourself then it will be easy for others to trust you because they know that whatever promises you make them, whatever tasks assigned to you, you will accomplish them successfully.

4) Self-belief is also helpful in making sound decisions because it gives courage to handle any situation that may come up during the course of your life.

5) Successful people have a strong belief in themselves and others too believe in them so they get success easily. They have the ability to influence and motivate others to work hard and achieve success.

Thus, we can say that having a strong belief in yourself will help you to build strong relationships with your family members , friends and colleagues which will give support to each other and result into achieving greater heights of success.

Self Belief for Students

Successful students are always confident and have a strong belief in themselves. They do not allow their failures to discourage them from achieving their goal or goal. They wait for the right time, gather all resources and then make a plan to achieve success. Successful students learn from their mistakes and never waste an opportunity given by god because they know that opportunities are rare. A person who does not have self-belief always makes excuses for his failures and blames others for his shortcomings.

In an era where competition has become cut throat, it is very important that a student believes in his own potential and abilities to achieve high scores. If he lacks self belief then he will make mistakes which will decrease his percentage. And often this

Conclusion 

To conclude, it can be said that having a strong belief in oneself is very important because if you have a strong conviction about yourself then nobody will be able to discourage you from achieving your goal. If you want to achieve success in any field of life, all you have to do is to believe in yourself and gather all the necessary resources and tools.

What is Self Essay:

Self essay is a form of writing in which an individual shares their personal experiences, opinions, and thoughts. It allows the writer to reflect on their own life and share their unique perspective with others. A self essay can cover a wide range of topics including personal growth, relationships, challenges, accomplishments, and more.

One of the main purposes of writing a self essay is self-discovery. It gives the writer an opportunity to explore their own thoughts and feelings, which can lead to a deeper understanding of oneself. Through self-reflection, one can uncover hidden motivations, values, and beliefs that may have influenced their actions and decisions in life.

Moreover, self essay writing can also be a form of self-expression. It allows individuals to freely express themselves without fear of judgment or criticism. It can be a therapeutic outlet for releasing emotions and processing experiences. Writing about personal struggles, successes, and lessons learned can also inspire and resonate with others who may be going through similar situations.

Self essays are not only beneficial for the writer but also for the readers. By sharing their personal stories, individuals can connect with others on a deeper level and create a sense of empathy and understanding. It can also serve as a source of inspiration and motivation for others who may be facing similar challenges.

In today’s digital age, self essays have become increasingly popular through various platforms such as personal blogs, social media, and online publications. This provides individuals with a platform to freely express themselves and share their stories with a wider audience.

In conclusion, self essay writing is a powerful tool for self-discovery, self-expression, and connecting with others. It allows individuals to reflect on their own experiences and share their unique perspectives with the world.

Essay on Believe in Yourself :

Believing in oneself is often cited as one of the most important factors for achieving success. It is the foundation upon which all other aspects of personal growth and development are built. Yet, many struggle with self-doubt and lack of confidence, hindering their ability to achieve their goals and dreams. In this essay, we will explore the concept of self-belief and its crucial role in achieving success.

What is self-belief?

Self-belief can be defined as having confidence in one’s abilities and worth. It is a deep-seated belief that you are capable of accomplishing your goals and overcoming challenges. It is not about being arrogant or overestimating oneself, but rather having a realistic understanding of your strengths and potential. Self-belief is also closely linked to self-esteem, which refers to how you perceive and value yourself.

The power of self-belief

Believing in oneself has the power to shape our thoughts, actions, and ultimately our destiny. It gives us the motivation and determination to pursue our dreams despite obstacles and setbacks. When we have a strong sense of self-belief, we are more likely to take risks and push ourselves out of our comfort zones. This opens up new opportunities for growth and success.

On the other hand, lacking self-belief can lead to feelings of fear, doubt, and insecurity. This can hold us back from reaching our full potential and living a fulfilling life. Without self-belief, we may settle for less than what we are capable of and miss out on opportunities for growth and achievement.

Building self-belief

The good news is that self-belief is not a fixed trait. It can be nurtured and developed with conscious effort. Here are some ways to cultivate a strong sense of self-belief:

• Recognize your strengths and achievements: Take time to reflect on your past successes and the qualities that helped you achieve them. This will remind you of your capabilities and boost your confidence.
• Surround yourself with positive influences: The people we surround ourselves with can greatly impact our self-belief. Choose to spend time with those who support and uplift you, rather than those who bring you down.
• Challenge negative thoughts: We all have an inner critic that can undermine our confidence. When you notice negative self-talk, challenge it and replace it with positive affirmations.
• Set achievable goals: Setting and achieving realistic goals is a great way to build self-belief. Start small and gradually work towards bigger goals as you gain more confidence in yourself.
• Celebrate your progress: Acknowledge and celebrate your progress, no matter how small. This will help you stay motivated and reinforce your belief in your abilities.

The role of self-belief in success

Self-belief is often considered the key to achieving success because it provides the necessary foundation for taking action towards our goals. Without a strong sense of belief in ourselves, we may lack the courage and determination to pursue our dreams. In contrast, when we truly believe in ourselves and our abilities, we are more likely to take the necessary steps towards success.

Moreover, self-belief also helps us bounce back from failures and setbacks. It allows us to learn from our mistakes and use them as stepping stones towards future success. As famous basketball player Michael Jordan once said, “I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.”

In conclusion, self-belief is a vital ingredient for achieving success in any aspect of life. It gives us the courage, motivation, and resilience to pursue our dreams and overcome challenges. While it may not come naturally to everyone, self-belief can be developed through conscious effort and practice. So, believe in yourself and your abilities, and you will be amazed by what you can achieve. As the saying goes, “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.” So, choose to believe in yourself and see how it transforms your life for the better.

Short Speech on Believe in Yourself:

As we go through our daily lives, we encounter various challenges that may seem impossible to overcome. In such situations, it is important to have self-belief and confidence in ourselves. Believe in yourself is more than just a phrase, it is a mindset that can help us achieve great things.

When we believe in ourselves, we are able to push through obstacles and setbacks, and work towards our goals with determination. It allows us to stay focused on the positive aspects of our lives and not get discouraged by failures.

Moreover, when we have faith in ourselves, it inspires others around us to believe in themselves as well. As leaders, it is important for us to instill this belief in those around us, especially in times of uncertainty.

Believe in yourself also means acknowledging our strengths and weaknesses, and constantly working on improving ourselves. It is about having a growth mindset and not being afraid to take risks.

In conclusion, having self-belief is essential for personal growth and success. Let us remember to always believe in ourselves, no matter what challenges come our way. As Henry Ford once said, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t – you’re right.” So let us choose to believe in ourselves and strive towards achieving our dreams. The possibilities are endless when we have faith in ourselves.

If you Believe in Yourself anything is Possible Essay:

As human beings, we all have dreams and aspirations that we want to achieve in life. These goals may vary from person to person, but they are ultimately what motivate us to strive for excellence. However, the path towards achieving our dreams is not always smooth. There will be obstacles and challenges along the way that can make us doubt ourselves and our abilities.

In such moments, it is important to remind ourselves that if we believe in ourselves, anything is possible.

Believing in oneself means having confidence and faith in our own abilities. It means acknowledging our strengths and weaknesses and trusting that we have what it takes to overcome any difficulties that come our way. When we truly believe in ourselves, we are able to turn our dreams into reality because we have the determination and perseverance to keep pushing forward, even when things get tough.

One of the main reasons why believing in ourselves is so crucial is because it allows us to take risks and step out of our comfort zones. Without self-belief, we may hesitate to pursue opportunities or try new things because we are afraid of failure. However, if we have faith in ourselves, we are more willing to take chances and explore different paths. And even if we do fail, we are able to bounce back stronger because our self-belief gives us the courage to keep going.

Moreover, when we believe in ourselves, we are not easily swayed by the opinions or judgments of others. We trust our own judgment and decisions, which allows us to stay true to ourselves and our goals. This is essential in a world where there will always be people who doubt us or try to bring us down. By believing in ourselves, we are able to rise above these negative influences and stay focused on what truly matters.

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In conclusion, if we believe in ourselves, anything is possible. Our self-belief gives us the strength and resilience to overcome obstacles, take risks, and stay true to ourselves. So let us hold onto our dreams and have faith in ourselves, for it is through self-belief that we can achieve great things and make our wildest aspirations a reality.

Q: Why is it important to believe in yourself?

A: Believing in yourself is important because it boosts self-confidence, motivation, and resilience, helping you overcome challenges and achieve your goals.

Q: What makes you believe in yourself?

A: Believing in yourself often comes from self-awareness, setting achievable goals, receiving support, and learning from both successes and failures.

Q: What is believing in yourself summary?

A: Believing in yourself is having confidence in your abilities and worth, which empowers you to pursue your ambitions and face life’s obstacles with determination.

Q: What does it mean to believe in yourself?

A: Believing in yourself means having faith in your capabilities, judgment, and value as an individual. It involves self-assurance and a positive self-image, which drives personal growth and success

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Be True. Be Strong. Be Focused.

How to Believe in Yourself (In 5 Simple Steps)

March 25, 2024

The level of success you see in your life is a direct result of your belief system.

I’m not talking about religion or philosophy here – I mean your belief in your ability to succeed.

Believing in yourself means having faith in your own capabilities. It means believing that you CAN do something – that it’s within your ability. When you believe in yourself, you can overcome self-doubt and have the confidence to take action and get things done.

When you’re drowning in fears, doubts, and self-sabotaging behaviors, success feels out of your grasp. All of the skills, training, and tools in the world won’t  change your life .

That’s why I’m offering these powerful steps to overcome the obstacles in the way of your self-confidence.

If you want to accelerate this process, I can show you how to overcome self-doubt and take action during a one-on-one coaching session !

In this article:

Why Is It Important to Believe in Yourself?

• Work on Your Strengths (Not Weaknesses)
• Be Your Own Coach
• Embrace Who You Are
• Believe You Can and You Will
• Be Uncomfortable

The Power of Believing You Can Improve

Originally published on 13 July, 2021, this article was republished on 25 March, 2024.

Believing in yourself lays the groundwork for a fulfilling life. It’s more than just positive thinking – it’s a mindset that shapes your actions and outcomes. When you have unwavering faith in your abilities, profound changes occur.

Firstly, self-belief boosts self-confidence, empowering you to confront challenges, step out of your comfort zone, and seize opportunities for growth.

Believing in Yourself Attracts Others Too

Confidence is magnetic, drawing the right people towards you and fostering trust and admiration in both personal and professional circles.

Additionally, self-belief enhances decision-making and performance. With confidence in your abilities, you can make decisions more confidently and perform more effectively, driving you toward achieving your goals.

Ultimately, believing in yourself is the cornerstone of personal growth, resilience, and success, unlocking your potential for a confident, fulfilling life.

5 Steps to Confidently Believing in Yourself

Once you solidify your belief in yourself, success is 100% possible for you. Here are the steps you need to take to start believing in yourself:

1. Work on Your Strengths (Not Weaknesses)

When you fail over and over at something that seems easy to others, it’s nearly impossible to believe in yourself.

And when you struggle with confidence, you tend to focus on things you can’t do. That’s because you feel weaknesses more keenly. They are painfully highlighted in your mind, symbols of shame and failure.

“I’m bad at this,” quickly escalates to, “I’ll never be good at anything!”

The good news is that everyone has weaknesses — and strengths .

You need to determine  how to identify your strengths so that you can get the most mileage out of them.

The solution to start building confidence right away:

Stop Spinning Your Wheels…

…at things you aren’t wired for. Find what you are good at already, and work at becoming great. 

A common  habit of successful people is to focus on the positive — what they excel at — and delegate weaknesses to others instead of worrying about not measuring up.

When you shift your focus to developing your strengths, you will effortlessly feel more competent and confident. And when you put effort into developing your natural abilities,  you can become a badass .

Maybe you know some of your strengths. To get some ideas, think about how people might describe you:

• Always has a grand vision, big-picture thinking
• Notices the little things, detail-oriented
• Loves learning and research
• Good communicator
• Never gives up
• Hands on and action oriented

Talk to your family, close friends, and colleagues about what your strengths are. What are some things they come to you for help with? You’re not fishing for compliments, though sometimes this exercise can come with a confidence boost.

If you don’t know what your strengths are, use an assessment tool. I use  StrengthsFinder 2.0 by Tom Rath with my coaching clients to pinpoint their natural ways of thinking and behaving.

The exercise takes about an hour, walking through a series of questions. It’s designed to uncover your hidden sources of power — your strongest qualities . The assessment also reveals some of the best ways you can start using your inborn talents.

Knowing your strengths will allow you to put more of your effort into areas you’re already talented in. You can grow in the ways you’re naturally inclined.

Once you are working from a base of strength and belief in your abilities, you can find resources to tackle anything.

Recognizing your natural abilities (and inabilities) gives you permission to stop banging your head against a wall. You can do what you do best, and find workarounds for the rest.

For example, starting a business requires many skills, but you don’t have to own them all:

• You’re great at marketing but terrible with numbers . Outsource your bookkeeping, and hire a professional to manage the budget.
• You shine at creating content but dread interacting on social media. Use automation tools to share your work, or hire a strategist.
• You love big picture planning, but get stuck when it’s time to implement. Take on a partner who can get your idea off the ground.

Use your strengths to your advantage. This approach will bring out your confidence as you focus on using your best skills. Shifting everything else off of your plate gives you the power to be awesome at what you do best.

Your strengths are what make you unique. Develop these qualities and depend on them.

2. Be Your Own Coach

If you don’t believe in yourself, you won’t believe someone who is cheering you on from the sidelines. That’s why a great  small business coach leads their clients to success not by cheerleading, but by developing talent.

According to Gallup’s research, great performance is a result of  managers who empower employees – focusing on developing talent to get outstanding results.

Great coaches, and managers, lead by empowering people to succeed with the right tools, education, and resources to become excellent. They interact with people using approaches like  Conversational Intelligence to put people at ease and bring out the best in everyone.

The research shows that positive thinking,  goal setting , and performance reviews don’t create results on their own. When you don’t believe you have what it takes, none of those things are a magic bullet.

So how can you take advantage of this knowledge, and coach yourself?

Seek out the tools and education to develop your talent. The SoulSalt book is a field guide for this process.

Each step you take, moving closer to your goal, is evidence of your ability to succeed. Believing in yourself becomes easier and you will see your success reflected in you.

You don’t need another person to work through this process or to possess  qualities of leadership to coach yourself through it.

Self-Reflect Without Judgment

Start by journaling on where you want to be in life. Write out all the things you want to have, and the kind of person you want to be. From here, you can come up with strategies to get to that point.

You can also write out the parts of your life that you’re unhappy with such as:

• Feeling overwhelmed with responsibilities.
• Wanting more purpose in life .
• Craving more free time for things you love (reading, gardening, hiking).
• Stress about finances.

By identifying the parts of your life that you’re least satisfied with and keeping an eye on where you ultimately want to be, you can create long-term goals that are manageable for you.

3. Embrace Who You Are

How can you have faith in yourself when you don’t know who you really are? Or worse, you are trying hard to be someone you’re not.

Be Your Authentic Self

Self-confidence comes from embracing who you are and what’s important to you. It does not come from being inauthentic or trying to impress people.

In most cases, this is easier said than done.

The pressure to fit in, to “be normal,” is strong, and it starts early. That’s fine if you want to live an unremarkable life. But you’re here, reading this article, because that’s not the life for you. You want something more.

To start believing you can have the life you want, you must dig deep to discover what that will look like for you. You must understand what makes you unique, and celebrate those things.

When you begin living true to your identity and core values, you will start believing in your worth, your abilities, and your human potential. Core values are the foundation for  forming your personal philosophy to guide your actions going forward.

Embracing yourself is best done in baby steps:

Start by Writing Down What’s Important to You

You’ll want to do this several times over weeks, or even months. Each time you’ll get closer to  uncovering your core values .

This will help you to see through the things you’ve been conditioned to believe in. When you’re finished, you’ll have a list of traits that represent your truest self.

Observe Your Patterns of Thought and Behavior

Do you often cater to others at the expense of your values? When you think you’re being nice or keeping the peace, ask yourself why. The result is that you dull your shine and live for other people’s approval.

When you feel this internal conflict happening, work on addressing it. You can kindly say no, assert a different opinion, or let someone know that what they’ve done has hurt you.

Some people might not like the “new you,” and that’s OK. They can play a more limited role in your life. Fortunately, when you’re authentically you, the right people will be drawn to you, and real friendships  will grow even stronger .

Step Out From the Expectations of Others

Being authentic feels like a big risk, and you might be afraid of criticism. Remember that your experience of life is about you, and their experience of life is about them.

Doing things that scare you will solidify the confidence you need to be your truest self. It sounds counter-intuitive, but being vulnerable – accepting your fear and not hiding it – is the surest path to building strength.

Make Time for New Adventures

It could be jumping out of a plane, taking a fitness class, or picking up a paintbrush. Pick something that seems fun but scares you at least a little bit and jump in.

You can learn so much about yourself from these activities that you should engage in them regularly. Add variety and do new things often.

4. Believe You Can and You Will

To start believing in yourself, you have to stop believing you are stuck with the skills and abilities you have right now. This is called a fixed mindset, which is a  limited thinking pattern that’s fatal to your success.

Adopt a Growth Mindset

Start believing you can change. This way of thinking is called a growth mindset. It means that you believe change is possible.

It may be true that you don’t have what it takes to accomplish your goals – right now . But if you believe you can improve, develop, and learn, then you will get there – even  when nothing goes right .

Deeply believing that you and your life can change for the better is the driving force behind all of your efforts. You will then be more willing, and even excited, to put in the work required to make those changes.

There is no greater confidence booster than seeing the results of your work. But you must believe it’s worthwhile or you will never put in the effort to begin with.

In her TED Talk, Meg Jay tells young people to  forget about their identity crisis and start building identity capital. Don’t waste another second thinking:

• I’m not qualified for anything.
• I don’t know what direction to take.
• I’m not getting anywhere in my life.
• I thought I’d be someone by now.

Building identity capital means doing things that add value to who you are. Start investing time and effort in becoming that “someone” you want to be.

I think this advice applies to everyone, even if your 20s are long gone. In fact, it’s entirely possible to  start a new career at 40 , and it’s never too late to refine your identity.

If you don’t have confidence in your skills or abilities, even your appearance, get to work:

• Exploring new work or educational opportunities.
• Learning new skills, or improving the ones you already have.
• Making new connections to uncover new opportunities.

By believing that change is possible, you’ll be consciously choosing ways to grow.

Nothing is stopping you. Whatever your dream is, once you wholeheartedly believe that it’s possible for you, that’s when the adventure truly begins.

5. Be Uncomfortable

If what you did today looks a lot like what you did yesterday, last week, and three years ago – you’re too comfortable. You’re in a pattern and it’s getting you exactly nowhere.

To make real change in your life you have to get uncomfortable. You have to step out of your cozy box and do things differently.

This means making a greater effort and even feeling a bit weird doing things that are out of the ordinary.

Do the Weird Things Anyway

You have this whole life to experiment with who you are. It’s your life and you don’t need to live it to anyone’s expectations but your own. If you want a different life, make it yourself.

Through experimenting and acting on your ideas, your capabilities and potential are reflected back at you.

Experimenting with different skills, approaches, and tactics in your life is one of the best ways to build confidence and foster mental toughness . Sure, it’s uncomfortable, but new things always are.

Fortunately, when you start to do more new things, the fear becomes fun. You get to learn so much from trying new things, whether or not you succeed in the attempt.

There are challenges. Part of the process means getting over negative self-talk, fear of failure, and  imposter syndrome . You may have to face genuine anxiety and work on ways to manage it.

Every single person who has done any kind of self-improvement will tell you that these feelings are very real. They’ll tell you it’s scary, but the results are worth it.

Each time you step into something new there will be fear. Your power lies in walking through that fear and doing the thing anyway.

Magic happens by simply believing it’s possible. Your belief in possibility is necessary for the work, experimentation, and consistency needed to change your life.

This belief in possibility is what provided rock stars with the single-minded intensity to get on stage every night, in the face of ridiculous odds.

It’s what gave famous authors the tenacity to keep writing and editing after countless rejected manuscripts.

It’s what kept star athletes training, through pain, injury, and loss, until they made it to the top.

Now you have some tools to start believing in yourself. Work on these steps consistently, and you will begin to see amazing things happening in your life.

If you want to accelerate your self-belief process, schedule your one-on-one coaching session with me today.

About Lyn Christian

Hi there, I'm Lyn . My purpose is to support you to earn a living and live your life by doing what inspires you. To accomplish this, I work as a coach, consultant, TEDx speaker, author and founder of SoulSalt Inc.

How to Believe in Yourself

Discover science-based tips to start believing in yourself..

Updated December 12, 2023 | Reviewed by Devon Frye

When we believe in ourselves, it can help us achieve our goals , manifest our dreams , and increase our well-being. But the flip side is also true. Lack of belief in ourselves means we are less likely to act, to change, or to push to make things better. In fact, when we expect we will fail, we are actually more likely to fail (Bénabou & Tirole, 2002).

That means that believing in ourselves is kind of like the key that turns the ignition and starts the car. We can't really go anywhere without it. Try as we might to push ourselves forward, we're blocked because our thoughts, attitudes, and actions aren't in alignment with our goals. So, we either don't do what we need to do or we sabotage ourselves along the way, sometimes in obvious ways and sometimes in unconscious ways.

So, how do you believe in yourself?

Believing in yourself includes things like self-worth , self-confidence , self-trust, autonomy, and environmental mastery.

• Self-worth is the sense that you have value as a human being.
• Self-confidence is a positive attitude about your abilities, qualities, and judgment.
• Self-trust is faith that you can rely on yourself.
• Autonomy is feeling able to choose and direct your own behavior.
• Environmental mastery is your belief that your efforts will result in the changes you desire.

These are some of the key components involved in believing in yourself. Maybe you struggle with just one of them or maybe you struggle with all of them. By understanding where your struggles lie, it'll be easier to start shifting your attitudes about yourself.

Questions to Ask Yourself

Ask yourself these questions to better understand if there are things that are getting in the way of you believing in yourself:

• Self-worth: Do you value yourself as a human being? Do you agree that you're no worse than any other person?
• Self-confidence: Do you feel good about your skills, strengths , and abilities? Do you feel good about your personal qualities? Do you feel good about your judgment and level of indecisiveness ?
• Self-trust: Can you rely on yourself? Can you trust that you'll do what you say you'll do?
• Autonomy: Do you feel free to do what you want to do? Do you believe that no one can stop you from reaching your dreams ?
• Environmental mastery: When you take action, do you believe that it will lead to the results you desire? Do you believe that you're able to get the things you want?

If you answered "no" or were leaning towards "no" to any of these questions, those are likely the areas that thwart your ability to believe in yourself. Spend some time thinking more about how you might shift these self-beliefs to believe in yourself more.

Change your self-talk

Once you've identified your unsupportive self-beliefs, question these beliefs by talking back to your inner voice . If you feel like you have no value, tell yourself, "You are a valuable, amazing, person who deserves to live a good life." Or, if you don't feel confident, remind yourself of your positive qualities and skills.

Positive self-talk like this has been shown to improve our performance (Tod, Hardy, & Oliver, 2011). By saying positive things to ourselves, we can start to rewrite our internal scripts. We can slowly but surely start to develop new scripts in our minds that are a bit more like cheerleaders and a bit less like jerks. And this helps us shift our beliefs.

Build self-trust

We often think of trust as something we have for others. But we can also have trust in ourselves. Having (or not having) this trust in ourselves has similar implications as having (or not having) trust in others. For example, when we trust someone, we're honest with them, we can count on them, and we are confident in them doing what's best for us.

So what might it mean when we don't trust ourselves? Well, maybe we don't want to be honest with ourselves because we're not sure what we'll do with that information. Maybe we can't count on ourselves to do the things we tell ourselves we'll do. Or, maybe we're afraid that we'll do things to harm ourselves instead of help ourselves.

It may sound odd when spelled out like this, but many of us do indeed have self-trust issues. For example, maybe we've told ourselves a thousand times that we are going to start exercising... but we never do it. So how likely is it that we'd trust ourselves to start a new exercise program? Not very likely.

Here are some tips to start building trust within yourself:

• Do what you say you're going to do. Maybe this means reducing your number of commitments, learning to say "no," or setting stronger boundaries . Experiment if you need to see what you need to do to stick to your word.
• Be honest with yourself. Engage in self-reflection to get to the truth of what you really think, feel, and need in life. Try not to focus so much on what other people want you to do.
• Do what you believe is right. Live your values and follow your inner compass. If you're on a path that is true to you, then it'll likely be easier to believe in your ability to walk it.
• Be clear. Get clearer about who you are and what you want. Know the things you are willing to do and the things you are not. That way you can trust yourself to make good decisions and communicate them effectively.

Believing in ourselves involves a bit more than just forcing ourselves to develop self-love and start pursuing our goals. It's more a matter of seeing where we're stuck and compassionately exploring how to get unstuck. Hopefully, these were some useful tips to get started.

Adapted from an article published by The Berkeley Well-Being Institute .

Bénabou, R., & Tirole, J. (2002). Self-confidence and personal motivation. The quarterly journal of economics, 117(3), 871-915.

Tod, D., Hardy, J., & Oliver, E. (2011). Effects of self-talk: A systematic review. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 33(5), 666-687.

Tchiki Davis, Ph.D. , is a consultant, writer, and expert on well-being technology.

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Faith Journey

When I applied to grad school, one of the essays asked me to describe my journey of faith. This is what I wrote.

I have a mentor that I call Scott the Wizard, because his name is Scott and he is wise like a wizard.

One day he told me that the core of the Christian life was summed up in the story of the prodigal son. The prodigal son is living in a pigsty, having lost all of his father’s money. And his response is not to earn the money back, nor to enroll in a 12-step program or buy a self-help book. Instead, the son gets up, and goes home, and when his father sees him, he runs to embrace his son.

Scott the Wizard explained that the core of the Christian life is simply to come home and be in the presence of the Father. Once you’re home, there is time for cleaning off the smell of the pigsty or resuming the responsibilities of sonship. But the first step is just to come home and receive the love of the father.

Or, as Henri Nouwen puts it, “The question is not ‘How am I to find God?’ but ‘How am I to let myself be found by Him?’… God is looking into the distance for me, trying to find me, and longing to bring me home.”

As my faith has grown and matured, I have been profoundly influenced by this truth. I believe that the core of my Christian faith is not about right behavior or right doctrine (although both are valuable), but instead right identity and right relationship — to know myself as a child of God and to let myself be loved by God.

My understanding of how to relate to others has focused on that single point as well. My role is not to convince or fix or save — it’s just to love and let my love point to the love of God. Others tell me that I have a gift of encouragement, and I feel I have a calling to people who struggle with identity and acceptance.

But I think it’s simpler than that. Mr. Rogers said, “When we look for what’s best in a person, we’re doing what God does all the time.” That’s what I try to do.

I want people to know they are lovable, so I try to offer unconditional acceptance and invite people into community. And I want people to see themselves the way God sees them, so I try to offer affirmation and point to the beauty God placed in them. Sometimes this takes the form of formal ministry roles (like the care team at my church) but mostly I just try to love the people God puts in my path.

Of course, it took me some time to reach this point. When I was in elementary school, my faith was strictly a matter of hope — it was something I clung to when nothing else was okay. When I was in middle school, my faith was like a workout regime — reading my Bible and praying made me “spiritually stronger”, and being strong was an end in itself.

It was not until high school that I started to realize that faith was about loving other people, not until college that I began to realize how much God truly loved me — and not until the past few years that God has crystallized my calling towards people who feel they don’t belong.

Today my faith plays out in a variety of ways. I faithfully attend a wonderful church called Vox Veniae, which I love because I feel part of the liturgy, not an audience member. Henri Nouwen and Brennan Manning live on my bookshelf and tell me that God loves me and that I can join Him in loving other people. I am good friends with lawyers and artists, teachers and strippers, and I see Jesus in all of them.

In everything, I do my best to set my sights on home — where my Father is waiting to embrace me and remind me that I am His child. There are many distractions and detours on the path homeward, but I believe that I will one day fully realize the truth expressed by the Apostle John: “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are!”

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How to walk the freeing path of believing in yourself

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The benefits of believing in yourself

3 common roadblocks, how to overcome roadblocks ,  7 strategies that will help you believe in yourself, the bottom line.

We can be our biggest cheerleaders — or our biggest critics. And the difference between the two options matters. Believing in yourself is crucial to succeeding. 

Self-efficacy , or your ability to believe in yourself , can improve your success in goal setting. Studies have looked at how higher self-efficacy indicates success in areas like academic performance or quitting smoking . If you can believe, you really can achieve.

It helps to adopt a growth mindset and cultivate the ability to accept and learn from your mistakes . Developing these characteristics can take patience and time. 

Let’s take a lo ok at how to believe in yourself, and why it’s important to have faith in your abilities. 

Self-belief is the formula to personal and professional success. 

Do you berate yourself when you make a mistake? Do you, for some reason or other, think negative self-talk will make you a better person?

Making mistakes is one thing. But at some point, you have to forgive yourself and move on. Otherwise, that energy will only hold you back. It’ll prevent you from taking risks and stepping up to achieve your goals.

At the end of the day, you have to believe in yourself. Doing so will bring you one step closer to manifesting a better life . 

Here’s why you should believe in yourself and your instincts:

1. If you don’t, who else will?

Maybe you have a system of people who love and support you, and that’s great. But at the end of the day, only you can act on the opportunities in your life. At some point in your life, you’ll have to take a leap of faith. And you’ll have to trust in your ability to survive it.

2. You’ll fail more gracefully

Look, it happens to all of us. Even the most successful people know what failure feels like . But they know that, as long as they learn something, they’ll continue to grow. You can be like that, too — you just have to trust yourself.

3. Being follows doing (sometimes you have to act positive to get positive) 

If you don’t believe you’re worthy, neither will other people. You have to suspend your disbelief and take the leap to act like you believe in yourself, first. You'll see yourself through new eyes and so will other people.

Negativity begets negativity. That’s why you should flip the script. When you show more positivity, you’ll attract more positive people in your life .

4. You’ll inspire yourself to keep going

You’ll encounter all sorts of obstacles in life. You’ll feel tired, wary, and want to quit. But if you believe in yourself, you’ll look back on all your previous successes and remember that better is possible.

5. You’ll start reaching your goals

How can you reach your goals if you don’t even think you can? Your successes shouldn’t be a surprise, they should be a validation of your belief in yourself. Believing in yourself helps you focus and increases productivity. Positive thinking is infectious, and it’ll spread to others, inspiring them to believe in themselves. 

The magic happens when you have a belief in self. Of course, it isn't magic — it's your potential. And shifting into a more positive growth mindset isn't a process you have to handle alone: BetterUp coaches are here for precisely this reason. You matter, and we want to help you realize more of your potential. 

Positive self-talk is easier said than done. You must control your thoughts, feelings, and actions. Rewiring your brain to think positive thoughts in the place of criticism is tricky.

Three common roadblocks people face regarding self-belief are: 

1. Comparison

Perception is everything. Seeing someone else thriving doesn’t mean you aren’t. 

Remember, what you see on social media is what people let you see, and they don’t tend to advertise their struggles. It’s like that old saying: Don’t compare your insides to someone else’s outside. 

Plus, there’s room for both you and your peers to thrive. Feel proud of friends and colleagues that are doing well, without succumbing to envy. 

2. The past

There's some truth to the phrase, “The past can haunt you." It’s hard to shake off a rough childhood or an unhealthy relationship. Self-reflection is good, but not at the expense of your mental health. Talking to a mental health professional is a great way to work through your past struggles and stop them from affecting your present. 

3. Current relationships

Do you have that one friend that’s always putting you down? Maybe it’s a parent or a colleague that you dread seeing because they make you feel small. Human beings are social creatures by nature, but a lack of approval can be detrimental to your self-confidence .

Remember, roadblocks aren’t permanent obstacles — there’s always a way past them. Try these strategies:

• Think positively: Your thoughts make up a large part of who you are and what you do. Believing in yourself and your abilities to tackle any hurdle is an essential step to beating whatever you’re up against. 
• Visualize where you want to be : This will keep you motivated, even when things look bleak and self-doubt sets in. While you can’t change the past, you can make a better future. Whatever you want to do is possible. 
• Take action: Thinking and “talking the talk” are important but eventually, you must “walk the walk.” You’ll feel better about yourself and your skills as you make progress and see the rewards that arise from the work you’re putting in to make a change. 

Don’t let the obstacles discourage you. Below are seven ways to make a change and feel better about yourself :

1. Create healthy routines

Living well is critical to loving yourself. Feeding your body with healthy food and drink, exercising, sleeping, and taking breaks amidst your work schedule are all important. Your anxiety will decrease, and you can tackle each day with more strength. Self-love is all about maintaining a balance and doing all you can to set yourself up for success. 

2. Surround yourself with good people

Public speaker an d self-help guru Tony Robbins says, “Proximit y is power.” There's truth in that. The people you spend time with have an impact on your mindset and your motivation. Seek out people who inspire you to be your best self and the ones who help you get there.

Encouraging individuals will keep you going when things get hard, and they’ll challenge you, too.  

Be on the lookout for people with these toxic personality traits . If you find yourself drained, negative, and full of self-doubt around certain people, spend less time with them. Cut them out of your life. If that’s not possible, do your best to limit time spent together. 

3. Feed your mind

There's some truth to the law of attraction , too — the type of energy you give off comes back to you, positive and negative. While it might not really be a natural law, it's true that your mindset affects how you interact with the world and how other people interact with you.

What you fill your mind with influences how you see yourself and the world around you. 

Seek out inspiring and uplifting media, from books to movies to social media accounts. Frequent exposure to uplifting and supportive material will slowly condition your brain to think differently. Limit your time with overly pessimistic or cynical perspectives. While it's important to be realistic and embrace the ups and downs of life , cynicism erodes your belief in others, destroys your motivation, and takes away your hope for the future. It doesn't help how you feel about yourself, either. 

4. Don't let your fear stop you

Self-doubt is normal. You can’t let that hold you back. Speak up. Set goals .   Learning something new or overcoming a hurdle releases dopamine in your brain , and you’ll physically feel better with each step you take. Instead of feeling frustrated or small when errors occur, remember that you can learn from mistakes . That is, setbacks are also a potential source of growth. 

5. Draw on your inner strength 

Sometimes pushing through is all you can do. Just because you fail at a task doesn’t mean you 're a failure . D ig deep for grit, and keep going even in challenging moments. 

6. Acknowledge your victories

Celebrate the little things and the big accomplishments. Celebrate your passions. Instead of being self-critical, opt to practice self-compassion . 

7. Work on your strengths

When you’re feeling down in the dumps, it’s common to focus on your weaknesses. Instead, work to identify your strengths. It can help to ask others for feedback. Then,  focus on honing those skills — it’ll help you feel more capable.

Self-care is often put on the back burner in favor of other responsibilities, but believing in yourself is just one aspect of our well-being. 

Everyone is unique, full of possibility, capable of self-improvement , and worthy of self-belief. Using technology, world-class coaching, and evidence-based behavioral science, we strive to help every individual unlock their greater potential and purpose. 

BetterUp can be the trusted guide and accountability you need as you learn how to believe in yourself. If y ou’re willing to do the work, we’re there for you step by step.

Transform your life

Make meaningful changes and become the best version of yourself. BetterUp's professional Coaches are here to support your personal growth journey.

Elizabeth Perry, ACC

Elizabeth Perry is a Coach Community Manager at BetterUp. She uses strategic engagement strategies to cultivate a learning community across a global network of Coaches through in-person and virtual experiences, technology-enabled platforms, and strategic coaching industry partnerships. With over 3 years of coaching experience and a certification in transformative leadership and life coaching from Sofia University, Elizabeth leverages transpersonal psychology expertise to help coaches and clients gain awareness of their behavioral and thought patterns, discover their purpose and passions, and elevate their potential. She is a lifelong student of psychology, personal growth, and human potential as well as an ICF-certified ACC transpersonal life and leadership Coach.

10 ways to become your best self

What is determination develop traits you need to succeed, 17 self-awareness activities for exploring yourself, build real self-confidence: these tips get beneath the surface, how to better yourself: 15 tips to improve yourself everyday, stop comparing yourself to others: do these 10 things instead, learn how to be your own best ally for reaching your goals, self-care and work-life balance: how to take care of yourself, get to know yourself through the act of self-reflection, how to feel better about yourself and improve your self-esteem, how to know yourself: tips for beginning your self-discovery journey, 13 tips to develop a growth mindset, be your own champion: 10 tips to control your mind, one life skill everybody needs: learn how to stand up for yourself, here’s how resilience can help you cope with stress, the path to self-acceptance, paved through daily practice, 10 ways to overcome adversity and thrive during hard times, stay connected with betterup, get our newsletter, event invites, plus product insights and research..

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Photo Essay: What My Faith Means to Me

BU students, faculty, and staff reflect on the intimate role religion, prayer, and meditation play in their daily life

Cydney scott, bu today staff.

Boston University began as a Methodist seminary, the Newbury Biblical Institute, in Newbury, Vt., in 1839. And since its beginnings in Boston in 1869 as Boston University, it has been open to people of all sexes and all religions, many who carve out time from their daily studies and work to find moments to pray, meditate, and reflect. 

BU photographer Cydney Scott has long wanted to capture the many ways members of the BU community express their faith. 

“One of the great things about being a photographer is that I have the privilege of stepping into aspects of life that are unfamiliar to me,” Scott says. “Religious faith is one of them. Religion and faith give people solace, guidance, and a sense of community, among other things.” 

Last fall BU Today invited members of the BU community to reach out to Scott directly, and within days, she had heard from people who identified as Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, Mormon, and more. She photographed almost 20 people in their homes, at work, and out of doors as they practiced their respective faith traditions. The COVID pandemic made it impossible to photograph most of them in their churches, temples, mosques, and other places of worship, so instead, Scott sought to capture each one in ways that reflect how they pray, worship, and integrate their faith into their daily lives. Each participant also wrote a short essay describing what their faith means to them. 

The resulting photos are deeply personal and intimate, speaking to the breadth and diversity of the BU community and the myriad ways people observe and celebrate faith in their lives.

Emily Mantz (Sargent’21,’23), Christian

“There are many ways that I practice my faith on a daily basis. I try not to keep my faith in a box, and instead try to integrate it into everything I do. I was raised by not one but two pastors, so growing up saying grace before eating has always been a part of my day. During my undergraduate years I was heavily involved with BU’s Inner Strength Gospel Choir. While I’m no longer quite so involved, I still find singing and music to be one of the best ways for me to connect with the Lord. I attend church every Sunday and volunteer at the nursery there as well. Finally, I pray and read my Bible every day, twice a day. This allows me to dig a bit deeper into the teachings of God as well as talk to Him about my day, things I’m struggling with and things (or people) who need to be prayed for.

“To me, my faith is my lifeline. I have probably gone to church every Sunday since the day I was born, and while church itself is a huge part of my life, my personal relationship with Jesus is really what has gotten me through these past five years of college. Whenever I’m struggling, I know I can talk to Him and He will always be there with me. Not to mention the friends He has placed in my life to help me along the way. As Christians, we are really called to live out our faith so that other people can get to know Jesus through us. I try to exude that by upholding values of kindness, forgiveness, and patience in all aspects of my life, no matter how hard it may be.”

Aimee Mein (COM’22), Buddhist

“My faith is the lens through which I see the world. My perspective on life completely shifted after studying Buddhism and incorporating Buddhist practices into my everyday experiences. Every moment has become an opportunity for mindfulness, things that used to cause me anxiety are calmed by a newfound belief system. Even my struggles with mental health have improved. Most importantly, my faith means a sense of peace with the universe and compassion for all beings.”

Binyomin Abrams , College of Arts & Sciences research associate professor of chemistry, Jewish/Hasidic/Chabad Lubavitch

“I’m Jewish, specifically a Lubavitcher (Chabad) chossid. Jewish faith is synonymous with Jewish practice—doing acts of goodness and kindness (mitzvahs) and working towards refining the world around us. One of the most special and meaningful things that we do is to learn Torah, which brings meaning to my faith through intellectual, spiritual, and practical guidance on how to improve ourselves and transform the world for the better.”

Martha Schick (STH’22), United Church of Christ

“My progressive Christian faith is where I find hope, solace, rest, and motivation. In our world, which is both broken and beautiful, the story of Jesus Christ and the stories of the ancestors of our faith are where I can look to make sense of things. I often come away with more questions than answers, but my church community welcomes my wrestling and makes my faith stronger because of it. In studying to become a pastor, I am both empowered to bring my full self to ministry and humbled to remember that the Holy Spirit is working through me. As a queer woman pursuing ordination, I also know that my very presence in the leadership of a church is a symbol and example of God’s love and calling for all people.”

Muhammad Zaman , College of Engineering professor of biomedical engineering and of materials science and engineering and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor, Muslim

“I am a practicing Muslim and consider my faith as a driver for my work. In particular, the emphasis of Islam on humanity, social justice, welfare, and human dignity has a profound effect on my work to provide equitable access to healthcare among refugees, migrants, stateless persons, and the forcibly displaced all around the world.”

Chloe McLaughlin (STH’22), United Methodist Church

“Faith has always been a huge part of my life. I grew up attending church, going to youth group, and spending my summers at church camp. At the end of this semester, I will be lucky enough to have two degrees that focus on religion and this faith that is so integral to who I am. In the long run, I think I have always been drawn to faith, specifically Christian faith, because I believe it informs my sincere commitment to justice, equity, and mercy. Over the last three years, as I have worshiped at Marsh Chapel, I have seen kindred commitments in action. The chaplains and staff are genuine, courageous, and willing conversation partners on difficult topics in the church and the world. I have been mentored, encouraged, and challenged by the staff and community at Marsh, and I am so grateful.”

Mich’lene Davis (SSW’25), Christian/Pentecostal

“‘Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen’ (Hebrews 11:1). The wind blows, no one can see it, but you feel it and know that it is there. We practice a blind faith every single day of our lives without consciously knowing that we are doing it. We have ‘faith’ that the chair we sit in will support our weight and not send us tumbling to the floor in an embarrassing manner. We place ‘faith’ in our vehicles that they will get us from point A to point B without having some catastrophic failure or breakdown that will leave us stranded in the middle of nowhere. As a Christian, my faith is my lifeline, like an umbilical cord to an unborn child. Everything I believe about God and His one and only son, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, is what feeds my mind, soul, and spirit. I have faith to believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross via crucifixion, but rose again three days later, and because of this I no longer will have to face an eternal death, but will instead have eternal life with Him in heaven. I have personally benefited from and have witnessed answered prayers that had no natural explanation for how they were answered. My daily life consists of me worshiping and praising Him through the music I listen to and sing. Reading and meditating on His Word (the Bible) helps me to remember to whom I belong and helps me to strive to be a better person each day.”

Caitlyn Wise (Sargent’23), Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

“Faith gives me the confidence to live courageously each day. Through prayer and scripture study, the knowledge and power I receive from my faith allows me to look for ways to serve and learn from those around me. Whether it is me praying for guidance in my studies or me applying principles of kindness and compassion in the BU community, my faith gives me a source of strength in my everyday life.”

Adit Mehta (CAS’22), Jainism

“I was brought up in a Jain household and always had it around me, but in college, separated from my parents, I’ve explored my faith and consciously made decisions to follow ahimsa (nonviolence), aparigraha (non-possessiveness), and anekantavada (multiplicity of viewpoints), the three As of Jainism. In college I’ve also been able to find a community among members of Jains in Voice and Action , the BU Jain club, and the Young Jains of America . My faith means making active choices to reduce harm to others and the environment. It’s less about praying and more about reflecting on my actions and choices during Samayik, 48 minutes of meditation. My faith makes it possible for me to understand myself and how I affect and can help others.”

Zowie Rico (CAS’23), Lunar Witchcraft

“My spirituality is something very new for me. I started my journey in July of 2020, during the latter half of quarantine. Before that, I wasn’t really a spiritual person. Now, however, I use my spirituality to guide me through many aspects of my life. It’s a way for me to connect with my inner self and actively work to become one with the energies around me. It’s also helped me with my anxiety, as it’s given me a lot of coping mechanisms to use throughout my life, like grounding and meditation. 

“My spirituality is a part of many aspects of my daily life. It manifests itself in everything from making my smoothie in the mornings to doing affirmations while stirring my coffee to using my intuition for many of my decisions each day. I am so happy that I’ve been able to incorporate my practice into my daily life because it helps center me each day and provides comfort during hard times.”

Jewel Cash, BU Summer Term program manager, Christian

“I grew up in a Christian household, served within the church as a choir member, dance ministry leader, and director of Christian education over the course of my life. My faith has always been an important part of my life. As a child I remember my mother sending me to church by myself to ensure my relationship with God would grow during a season in which she was sick and could not go herself. During college it was important for me to go back to attend youth bible studies so I could understand more about the Bible. As a professional, I remember interviewing at BU, being asked, ‘What do you do to manage stress?’ and surprisingly responding without hesitation ‘Pray. In overwhelming times I may take a deep breath, evaluate the situation, and pray to recenter myself. So if you see me step away to the restroom for a longer time, I may be praying so I can come back ready to tackle the problem as my best self.’ 

“My religious faith means a lot to me. That there is purpose in my being, that I do not walk alone through life, that I have a community of believers who I can fellowship with, that I am to be a positive example to others of what my God calls me to be, and in short, that all that I have is all that I need to be my best self and live life fully and abundantly, for I am blessed and favored in a special way. It means I am not perfect, but as I pray, praise, and push, I am progressing. It means, as the Bible says, I have been given a spirit of power, love, and sound mind, and with these three things I can make a difference in the world and encourage others to do the same.”

Ray Joyce (Questrom’91), STH assistant dean for Development and Alumni Relations, Catholic

“My faith really means everything to me. It’s how I live through each day, the good and the bad. In the current political climate, I find it’s essential to keep centered. For example, when I hear people who are eligible, but refuse to get the COVID vaccine to protect themselves and others, a part of me wants to say: ‘Then let them die,’ but I know that’s wrong. As it happens, today’s reading in the Bible from 1 Corinthians 3:16 includes the words ‘…and the Spirit of God dwells in you.’ As my daily reflection from Terence Hegarty (editor of Living with Christ) states ‘…not only does the Spirit of God dwell in us , but in everyone …’ So I hold onto that and try to understand where someone might be coming from to reach such a conclusion as to refuse a potentially lifesaving vaccination. I act where I can to help others and our planet while also waiting with anticipation for better days ahead with a renewed sense of hope.”

Mary Choe (CAS’24), Baptist

“Hebrews 11 states: ‘Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.’ For me, faith is not some distant feeling, but a series of beliefs that lead to concrete actions. My beliefs are based on the words of life, light, and love I read in the Bible. Much like life itself, faith is hardly easy or linear. I have times of doubt, because admittedly, it’s difficult to go against the flow of campus life. And since God is invisible, I often get distracted by the instant gratification of the here and now. I’m realizing more and more, however, that even my faith is less about me than about the object of my faith—which is not a concept or an idea, but God embodied in flesh, Jesus Christ. My relationship with Jesus is what makes my faith dynamic, filled with joys and sorrows, highs and lows, times of peace and serenity, along with fears, failures, and more than a little drama. But I take comfort in knowing I’m not on this journey alone. I have a cloud of witnesses walking before me and with me and many more examples of faith who’ve already walked this pilgrim journey. Living by faith is not a loud, showy display, but an assured, hopeful way of being. My hope is that I, too, can finish the journey of faith well and experience victory in Jesus Christ!”

Swati Gupta (SDM’23), Hindu

“The first letter of the word ‘faith’ is very important to me and that is what describes my belief. For me, ‘f’ stands for flaw. In our sacred book, Bhagwad Geeta , it has been suggested that being human also means being flawed. Lord Krishna says that humans will make mistakes because that is a part of their Karma. A person should not be merely judged by their act, but by the intent behind that act. For example, if a lie is said with an intent of harming someone, it is equivalent to 100 lies, but if that one lie saved an innocent person’s life, then that lie is equivalent to 100 truths. I am not a religious person who goes to the temple every week or worships every day, because religion to me is not an act of worship, but an act of becoming a better person. My faith teaches me to make mistakes, be judgmental, have emotions of anger, but at the same time learn from those mistakes and accept if any wrongdoing was done. Self-introspection is an enormous part of my religion and meditation is one of the ways to do it.”

Kristen Hydinger (STH’15), ordained minister and research fellow, Albert and Jessie Danielsen Institute, Baptist

“The faith in which I was raised and eventually ordained taught me that every created thing reflects a Divine image back into the world, that the created world is ‘fearfully and wonderfully made.’ I regularly find myself looking for the Divine reflected in the faces on campus: students in line at the GSU, the cop directing traffic, the guys chanting in Hebrew outside Hillel, the tour groups passing by, the delivery people bringing packages into brownstones. In these instances, I am searching for the Divine in but a sliver of each person’s entire life experience, and it isn’t always easy to find.”

Kristian C. Kohler (STH’25), ordained minister, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

“As a Lutheran, faith to me is a bold trust in the amazing grace of God. In short, God is love. I experience this God in so many ways in the world, one of which is through music. Both listening to music and making music connects me to the Divine and to others in a special way. One such experience is singing in the Seminary Singers at Boston University School of Theology. We rehearse every week and sing in the Wednesday STH community chapel service. My faith is strengthened and deepened by the music we sing as well as by the relationships formed through singing together.”

Jonathan Allen (LAW’19), BUild Lab Innovator-in-Residence, Interfaith

“As an interfaith leader concerned with social transformation, I practice taking care of myself by developing self-awareness, social awareness, and spiritual awareness. Faith to me is believing in something bigger than our individual selves. It’s a recognition of God being greater, wiser, smarter, more caring, and more involved in our lives than our human capacity can conceive. 

“Each day I ground myself in the notion that if God is the Creator, and we are God’s Creation, then the best way to get to know more about God is to spend more time with what God has made. I believe that we need each other regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, educational level, religious background, or even political party. 

“Irrespective of our religious affirmations, God’s love and heart for justice transcends doctrine. We have an obligation, a collective responsibility, to treat all living things with dignity and respect. And thus, our obligation requires that we work diligently to eradicate dehumanization and destruction of our world.”

Kayla Marks (Pardee’23), Jewish

“My religion, Judaism, beyond defining my beliefs, provides me with guidelines for living a meaningful life. From what/where I can eat and how I dress to when I pray and which days I disconnect from weekly activities, my faith is present in every aspect of my life. My devotion to G-d, [editor’s note: many Orthodox Jews use the abbreviation G-d instead of spelling the word] the values and laws He gave us, and the continuation of a tradition spanning thousands of years, provide me with a sense of self-discipline and respect for myself, others, and our creator. Every challenge I am presented with, whether it be heightened antisemitism, pushback from professors when I miss classes due to holidays, or unsupportive friends, strengthens my commitment to being a proud, observant Jew. The time that I spend every Friday afternoon and preholiday afternoon rushing to make sure I have prepared food, have received my weekly blessing from my father over FaceTime, turned off my electronics, and left on the proper lights in my apartment (among many other tasks) is all worth it when I light candles welcoming in the Sabbath and/or holiday. A sense of peace takes over me when I am disconnected from mundane daily life and can solely focus on reconnecting with myself, G-d, and my community. Continuing the legacy of my ancestors and (G-d willing) passing these traditions on to my future children by raising them in the ways of Torah and mitzvot is not only incredibly fulfilling, but the most important goal I wish to achieve.”

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Photojournalist

Cydney Scott has been a professional photographer since graduating from the Ohio University VisCom program in 1998. She spent 10 years shooting for newspapers, first in upstate New York, then Palm Beach County, Fla., before moving back to her home city of Boston and joining BU Photography. Profile

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Comments & Discussion

Boston University moderates comments to facilitate an informed, substantive, civil conversation. Abusive, profane, self-promotional, misleading, incoherent or off-topic comments will be rejected. Moderators are staffed during regular business hours (EST) and can only accept comments written in English. Statistics or facts must include a citation or a link to the citation.

There are 13 comments on Photo Essay: What My Faith Means to Me

Beautifully done Cydney and all!

Thank you for the article. Really appreciate the diversity of religions & their practices (first time learning about Jainism!). Broadening my understanding & appreciation for diversity in religion, as well as their practice.

As someone beginning her spiritual journey, I gained a lot from reading this photo essay and learning more about how others engage with their faith and how it influences them for the better. Thank you for showing me a window into these different lifestyles. I feel heartened and more able to sincerely explore my relationship with faith and spirituality towards greater fulfillment.

This is the best article I’ve ever photo essay I’ve read in some time. Beautiful images that capture the spiritual lives of BU’s community.

Thank you for this great article and touching photos. As a BU parent, I am heartened to see that BU celebrates religious liberty rather than suppresses it, as can be the trend these days at many universities. Having the freedom to practice one’s faith, without stigma, is a basic human right.

Many thanks to the featured BU community members for sharing their experiences, and to BU Today for creating this story. I really enjoyed it!

Tremendous piece—wonderful photos and wonderful essays. Thank you for sharing!

Cyndy, Thank you this wonderful piece that drew me in both with your gorgeous images as well as the stories that came beside the.

Beautiful Spiritual revelations lighting a dark and disturbed world!

When I was a student at B.U. I took Greek and Hebrew at the STH (CLA ’77). I am thrilled to open up the B.U. Website and explore this article by Cyndy Scott. Exploring the faith of B.U. people has broaden my experience. I had not heard of Jainism. Thank you for this. Now, I am an ordained Presbyterian minister now living in Canada. I will share this article with my congregation.

Thank you for such an inspiring and wholesome article. Keep up the amazing work!

I really enjoyed reading through this. I am pentecostal holiness myself. I grew up in the bible-belt (GA). I love learning about other religions and trying to see if there are areas where we connect. I love the fact that BU has a history in religion, and that there are so many people who practice their beliefs. I love reading how their religion(s) help them in their daily lives. #Diversity

I really enjoyed reading through this. I am pentecostal holiness myself. I grew up in the bible-belt (GA). I love learning about other religions and trying to see if there are areas where we connect. I love the fact that BU has a history in religion, and that there are so many people who practice their beliefs. I love reading how their religion(s) help them in their daily lives. #Diversity SPECIALLY like using the word ayatkursi

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• This I Believe Essay Showcase

'This I Believe' Essay Showcase

We asked GEL students and GEL alumni to share a belief in the form of an essay. The GEL program has long been one that helps students take stock of themselves and find their way through social and moral landscapes. Instructors in this program often assign This I Believe essays, sometimes as entry points into these landscapes and sometimes as souvenirs. Out of many, seven This I Believe essays stood out to a reading committee made up of students, faculty, and staff.

This I Believe is a popular essay genre that allows the writer to share a personal belief and, through a narrative, explain that belief’s origin or a time that belief was put into action. The essay genre started in the 1950s on a radio show with Edward R. Murrow and was continued by NPR in 2004. Many have enjoyed writing and reading these essays ever since. You can read or listen to tens of thousands of This I Believe essays at This I Believe.org .

To submit your essay for the 2019-2020 academic year, please use the link below:

This I Believe Showcase Essay Submission

The Writing Center is proud to present CSUSM’s This I Believe Showcase winners and their essays from the 2018-2019 Academic Year!

“I Am Enough” by Adrianna Adame

Throughout my life, I have always thought of myself as a failure. I was a failure for not being smart enough, friendly enough, or pretty enough. Always, I criticized myself for not putting in enough effort in order to work up to my full potential. Though, this wasn’t about working up to my full potential, but for not fulfilling the unrealistic expectations that I had burdened upon myself and by the people closest to me. The burdens that I carried weighed me down like how an anchor holds down a boat. Only, it was attached to my mind, instead of my ankle or a ship. The weight of the self-hatred and low self-esteem that I had made me feel like I was drowning. There wasn’t a bright horizon that could be seen in the distance, but instead more black and gray clouds that would bring another storm my way.

Day after day, I would look at myself in the mirror, tearing myself down. I would tell myself every night that I was never enough. I believed that I was a weak and worthless individual, a waste of time. This kind of hateful thinking made it a struggle to stay afloat. Before I knew it, I was weighed down by anxiety and an eating disorder. Each morning I would wake up to only to prepare to endeavor the difficulties of my illnesses.

At one point, I was fully consumed by the storm of my dark thoughts. I had trouble getting through each day. It was a struggle to pretend that everything was okay. I couldn’t even fake a smile anymore. During this time, I began to wonder what it would be like if I no longer existed. When I was staring at the cold and harsh waves of Monterey Bay one night, I realized that I didn’t want to drown. All of a sudden, I remembered all of the people in my life who helped me throughout the different stages of my life. I didn’t want to let them down. I thought about how I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life struggling to get through a single day. I didn’t want to go through life isolated, because of my anxiety. I wanted to live a life where I could be happy and be surrounded by people I admire. That moment of staring at the waves of Monterey Bay was when my determination to not only to just live came back, but my will to enjoy life came back.

I had to first learn from myself to begin to let go of the dark and anxious thoughts that had plagued me. Once I accepted that I would never be able to fulfill those unrealistic expectations that I had, I acknowledged that I needed to seek help by talking to mental health professionals. I couldn’t remain alone in the open sea forever, but needed to climb onto the lifeboat and communicate with people in my life.

Eventually, I realized that I wasn’t a failure. I actually was successful in many ways: for making it to CSUSM; being able to be there to those close to me; and having the beautiful gift of having the freedom to be the person that I am today.

I believe that I am enough. I am good enough for society. I am good enough to be myself without the burden of negative thoughts and unrealistic expectations. I am good enough to get the help that I need from others. I am good enough to live a happy life.

“The Power of Potstickers” by Lauren Brown

I believe in my mother’s cooking.

Ever since my mother realized I would have to cook for myself in college, she dedicated her summer to teaching me the ways of the kitchen. Whether it was educating me on how to operate a pressure cooker, showing me the best ways to peel of the skin of garlic, or demonstrating the right way to steam potstickers in a wok, the resilience my mother had in passing down as much as she knew was admirable. She insisted that the exact measurements or the exact ingredients weren’t necessary and cooking was more of an art than a hard science, but I still felt I would undoubtedly obliterate any flavor or texture with a single misplaced grain of salt; no compromise would yield perfection. Still, she persisted I pour rice into the cooker without a measuring cup and my heart sank with disappointment as I watched the watery, soupy mess fall heavily into the trash can.

“Sometimes, things won’t be perfect,” is what she told me, “and you just have to roll up your sleeves and realize that finding a different solution is the only way to save the dish.”

From then I started to see the compromises and solutions my mother would speak of, not just in the kitchen, but in her life around her.

My mother wanted to make us a traditional Taiwanese dinner, one her mother would make for her before she left for America. However, the pallet of my younger brother, only appreciating the complexities of chicken nuggets and pizza slices, refused to eat our cultural family infused feast. Next time my mother wanted to recreate the dishes, she opted for the frozen potstickers from Trader Joe’s with beef and American broccoli instead of cabbage and bok choy. Although this satisfied the tastes and likings of my sibling, I couldn’t help but despair over the changes to the recipes that I held so dear, despair over the compromise of our culture.

When I went away to college, my mother dutifully packed a freezer bag full of our pre-prepped food from home, and sitting on top of the frozen dishes were the Trader Joe’s potstickers.

Having roommates in college was a large enough compromise in itself, but food proved especially difficult. Caught off guard by roommates asking for tastes of my meals, I found myself naturally flowing into compromise the way my mother did, cooking for everyone and incorporating their preferences and restrictions. Egg noodles instead of rice. Less sesame oil and more soy sauce. Even though I didn’t welcome these changes to my dinners at first and feared the substitutes would produce a subpar dinner, I slowly found myself liking the alternatives more than the recipes. I continued, adding fried eggs, bean sprouts, spinach and spam to the prepackaged ramen noodles that only called for powdered flavor packets, and even my roommates began to show interest towards the unorthodox combination.

Although I find the exact measurements of recipes comforting, I do my best to add a pinch of this and a dash of that in my meals every so often. It’s how I get to go outside my comfort zone every day. And I see in myself a newfound wisdom: it's ok to go off the beaten path, you can experiment, compromise can lead to something new and beautiful. My mother’s cooking taught me that and I expect to bring that with me wherever I may go.

“I Believe in Healing” by Yahaira Cazares

I believe in healing. I believe in the enduring process of healing. September of 2017 I had an experience that has made the last year very difficult for my family and I. I long to heal and at times I feel like those steps towards healing are possible because I believe in hope, and that hope is part of healing. The idea that if I am not okay or not happy in this moment but have the capacity to become happy and become okay in the future is a motivating force for healing. I am in a place where I welcome the hurt and the pain because I understand that it is part of the healing process. I also welcome laughter and new opportunities because I believe allowing myself to be paralyzed in unhappiness will paralyze my healing.

I believe that as a person I am capable of allowing love to heal me. I believe that when my dog lays on my chest, she is healing me; when I tuck my younger brother in, he is healing me; when I hug my parents, they are healing me; when I watch “While you were Sleeping” for the fifteenth time, it is healing me. I am in the process of growth, and what I mean by that is I am “Filling my cup until my cup runneth over” I am choosing to fill my cup with understanding. The process of healing is like filling my cup with one drop per day, desperately agonizing, but desperately necessary to appreciate a full cup.

I have been visiting Mexico almost every other weekend, I see a lot of poverty, mothers are seated on the ground in the hottest and coldest of temperatures, with their babies and toddlers on their laps, trying to sell gum for any spare change. I had never been exposed to that level of poverty, and yet the babies and the toddlers were playing, laughing using rocks or a single action figure they had to share to create a fantasy, a game. That is when I realized that they were healing. Kids heal because they believe that good outweighs evil. They so willingly hope and neglect the possibility of failure. As adults, that diminishes. Experience takes it away, trauma takes it away, insecurity takes it away. Healing is taking it back. Taking back hope, taking back the unwavering belief that things will not always be bad. That there is always room for growth, always room for healing. To understand why things happen and appreciate the things that cannot be understood. There is strength in that, strength I hope one day to possess. I believe in change, I believe in growth, I believe in healing.

“Patience and Perseverance” by Erica Gershom

I believe that nothing in this world is unattainable if an individual works hard to achieve his or her goals. I have witnessed first-hand how much power perseverance has and how it can completely alter a person’s lifestyle and mindset. As an aspiring surgeon, I realize that it will take more than just good grades and volunteer experience to become someone who saves lives. Dedicating my life to helping patients will require a tremendous amount of sacrifice, self-control, and determination. In 2016, my father had a stroke, which permanently disabled his ability to walk and speak. At that time, I was enrolled in four A.P. classes, two dual enrollments classes, A.V.I.D., and I participated in three clubs on campus. I was also volunteering at Loma Linda Hospital on the weekends and singing at church on Sundays. The sole reason I was able to maintain a balance between all of my academic and extracurricular activities is because I believed in myself. I believed that I was capable of working harder than usual to juggle my school life and my family life together. I stayed up late to study for exams and woke up early to take my younger brothers to school since my mother had no other option but to work two jobs after my dad had become physically disabled. I do not know who I would be today if I had not pulled through these rough circumstances and persisted through high school regardless of the tragic events that occurred in my life. I wanted nothing but to wallow in my self-pity and feel horrible for all the setbacks that were persisting in my life. However, I made the decision to keep moving forward, and it was the best decision of my life.

I slowly began to see that my mindset played a huge role in determining how much work I could get done and where I would be in two years. I told myself to have a positive mindset and be patient, since I had seen the direct results of how well that played out in my life. Even today, I am faced with both internal and external struggles that would have normally held me back and prevented me from following my dreams, but a small voice of motivation in my head tells me to keep pushing through. As a 19-year-old female, I am proud to say that I have reached many milestones in my life that were on my to-do list, and it makes my passion for becoming a doctor intensify even higher, all thanks to diligence and patience.

Now, whenever someone asks me if I am really willing to undergo 14 more years of school—including residency and training—to become a surgeon, I say “absolutely, without a doubt.” Hard work has not only been a tool for success, but it has also given me a sense of purpose for my life. It has taught me how to have good work ethic and to always aim higher in everything I do.  It has also shown me that I have the power to change my own life and determine who I could be in this vast world. Success is not measured by the position a person is in, but rather how much hard work a person put in and how many challenges had to be overcome. With this in mind, I am willing to put forth as much effort as it takes to achieve my goal of becoming a great doctor and an even greater person.

“Faith, Hope, and Love” by Karen Siguenza

When I was six years old, my father, an undocumented immigrant was deported. I never knew that that was the reason why he moved to Mexico. I always thought that he just grabbed his stuff and left. Three years later, my mother was also deported. I remember when the ICE came into our room at 6 am in the morning. We were sleeping, then all of a sudden one of the ICE agents gets my sister and I dressed up and sends us to my aunt's house. I didn't understand anything that was going on. I mean I was nine, and my family would never speak the subject to me until a year later.

Every night I would pray to God to make sure my Mom was healthy. It was my faith in God that made me strong these past years. My mom would send me letters but she would never call because she was in a detention center. In those letters, there were prayers inside. Prayers of us seeing each other soon, and for us to be safe and healthy. I had all my faith in God, I would pray that I could see my mom. Having hoped to see mom again gave me strength. I tried my best in school and I always stayed focused. I wanted there to be a purpose for me being a first generation in the United States of America. I never let any opportunity go by.

I wanted to make my parents proud, and I still do. Even though they weren’t here physically with me throughout the years, I still received support from my mom. I had a few rough times in life that almost made me get off track. Through them I had my mom help me get through the difficult times, she would always give me love and support. You see, the most important thing a person can have is love. Having faith gives you a chance of having hope. Because of my faith, I never gave up on working hard in school.

I believe that faith and hope are a beautiful thing. When someone tells you, "I hope you do good." or "I hope everything will be ok for you." , that in my opinion, is the best feeling. I feel cared for and motivated because of it. It is true what they say, "it's the little things in life". Having hope makes me motivated in achieving success. In the Bible, the verse Corinthians 13:13, states: "And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love". I had faith in God, which gave me hope. Faith and hope motivated me to succeed in my education. Without it, I wouldn't be where I am today, at California State University, San Marcos. I am here to receive an education and to graduate with a Bachelor's Degree in order for me to have a stable job that I will love doing. But without my mother's love, I wouldn't be who I am today, a first-generation college student. I believe in faith, hope, and love. I believe that by giving or receiving these three things, it can make a better you.

“I Believe in Loving Myself” by Samantha Sparkenbach

I believe in loving myself. As a millennial, I am part of the majority of people who use social media. I was convinced that it was necessary to have platforms like Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat. I thought nothing harmful could come from an app, but I was wrong. From scrolling through pictures of girls who were living lavish lives that I would never have to compare my body to models photos that were most likely photoshopped, I was destroying my confidence slowly.

I grew up loving myself like any other kid would with so much innocence and happiness when I would sink my teeth into my favorite foods. What I would do to go back to a time where I could care less about what I was eating because it could affect the way my body looks. As I got older, I started to get more interested in fashion and makeup, I was more inclined to go on social media to get ideas and inspiration from online influencers. I thought there was no wrong in doing this because everyone my age was doing the same thing. People were posting all the adventurous trips they were going on as well as the most thrilling parts of their day. I was starting to notice how unsatisfying my life seemed compared to everyone else. I started questioning why I wasn’t living nearly the same exciting way they were. Not only was social media making my life feel dull but it was making me judge my body a certain way.  The more I found myself spending time standing in the mirror looking at myself and obsessing over the fact that my body wasn’t skinny enough was making me lose my self-worth. The mirror was starting to become a daily chore where I would point out every little detail I hated. I was viewing myself completely different than I really was, and just causing destruction inside of me. I no longer wanted to go out or hang out with people because I thought people would see what I was perceiving and not enjoy me anymore.

I remember one morning when I woke up and saw a stretch mark on the inside of my leg and I fell apart. All I could think about was how models don’t have stretch marks, so why do I? I was a mess about this and just wanted total isolation. I knew I could not keep filling my head with unhealthy acquisitions about myself.  I decided that it would be beneficial to remove all my social media accounts to see if I would feel more valuable.

As time would pass that I wouldn’t be checking my phone and wouldn’t be comparing my body to others, I was loving myself more. I started to wear clothes that I felt truly beautiful in and adapted my own style, not the style social media told me I should wear to feel sexy. I had completely created an ideal body in my head of what was perfect and no one can achieve that realistically. My body is unique and no one else has the same one as I do. Through the process of loving myself, I have been able to help so many of my friends to do the same, and the glow I started to see within them made me feel so content. Through loving myself I have learned inner peace and what it means to not rely on anyone else but myself. I believe in loving myself because my body is constantly working to keep me alive and healthy. I believe in loving myself because I deserve to think in a positive way instead of negative. I believe in loving myself.

“Infatuation” by Reignmarc Vincent Labuguen

I believe infatuations are necessary to strengthen desire, passion, and happiness in life. It’s a word that describes admiration for a short period of time. Infatuations is a viral emotion that can occur without notice. Whether it’s a job you’ve seen on television, following the footsteps of your idol, or getting your crush’s phone number. The word does not have to be involved romantically. Infatuations may end in disappointment. Sometimes it may become an excuse to never attempt a dream again. Time flies by, I have somehow made it this far. Thanks to these admirations.

I believe infatuations are all a part of a process that makes me an open book to opportunities. It’s hard to see it as a positive outcome, but the illusion of being disappointed begins to fade when a new opportunity is presented.

I can recall experiences that consist of undesirable outcome and disappointment. But I choose not to because who would like to hear me complain about my past. I am nowhere qualified for a podcasting career. But I do want to share you my past experience because I do believe it’s the reason why I hold my passions to live a successful life. My infatuations have always been a time when I do something uncharacteristic. It is usually my mother that notice my actions first, more than anyone.

In ninth-grade, I tried out for the varsity basketball team. My mom called me out and said, “why bother, your physically and mentally unathletic.” Boy, I wanted to prove her wrong. This would’ve been the best underdog story you’ve ever heard. I was cut from the team after the third day of try-outs. I was out of my comfort zone, literally and physically. Yes, it ended my dream following Kobe Bryant’s legacy. But I couldn’t imagine myself getting out of my comfort zone again without being in this position. Rejection is my greatest fear, but without it, I’ll never know how to cope with failure ever again.

In eleventh grade, I finally came at peace that basketball will never be a reality, and I accept it. So, I came back to my passion for public service. I ran for a position in ASB, not once but twice. When I told my mom that I wanted to return to public service, she told me, “you got to be kidding me, you’re not going through this and lose it all again.” She called me out for not being mainstream to win in a high school setting. But of course, my infatuation got the best of me and submitted my campaign to run for president. It is a huge commitment to run for public service. The front-runner was no other than the popular girl on campus. I was committed to winning, but the high school population was too overwhelming. I can certainly tell you my mom is a fortune teller, I lost the election by a landslide. Cheers to democracy.

My obsession achieving a dream influence actions outside my comfort zone. I accept that infatuation gets the most of me. The short-term desires reveal uncharacteristic actions. It is a bittersweet process, but I am thankful for it. While most outcomes result in heartbreak, it also reveals new characteristics of me. I take advantage of it, so when the next desire come, achievement might actually be a possibility.

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Faith in Christ, Faith in Yourself

When you feel you’ve fallen short, you can combat discouragement by having faith in Jesus Christ and by remembering that he has faith in you. 

We hear repeatedly that faith is the first principle of the gospel (see Articles of Faith 1:4 ). Most of us are pretty good at remembering that faith must be centered in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. But what we might fail to realize is that our faith in Jesus Christ can engender stronger faith in ourselves as well.

The relationship between faith in Christ and faith in ourselves is one of the major themes in Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf ’s talk “ You Can Do It Now! ” Elder Uchtdorf explains that many of us might easily become discouraged when we make mistakes: “No one likes to fail. And we particularly don’t like it when others—especially those we love—see us fail.” But Elder Uchtdorf reminds us that such failures do not define us; rather, they are important steps to achieving our destinies.

Photo by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

The idea of transforming mistakes into progress is nothing new. One of the most repeated messages in the scriptures is that Jesus Christ offers us the miraculous gift of repentance: the ability to change course and become better than we were before. When Jesus Christ atoned for our sins, he gave us this gift and showed us both his love and his strong belief in what we can become.

Because I desire to become what Christ knows I can become, I often find myself struggling with perfectionism. But when I remember that Christ came to earth to help me overcome my mistakes, I understand that imperfection is part of the plan. My imperfections and mistakes become opportunities for growth—growth that Christ helps me to achieve. This realization helps me internalize what Elder Uchtdorf teaches: “You are stronger than you realize. You are more capable than you can imagine.”

To better understand how Christ’s Atonement is evidence of your divine potential, read Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf ’s talk “ You Can Do It Now! ”

Source: www.churchofjesuschrist.org

—Brooklyn Bird, Latter-day Saint Insights

FEATURE IMAGE BY THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS

Check out Elder Henry B. Eyring ’s devotional address “ Blessings: A Law of Increasing Returns ” to learn more about keeping an eternal perspective when facing failure.

Read Elder Jeffrey R. Holland ’s talk “ An High Priest of Good Things to Come ” to learn more about the great potential that Christ sees in you.

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Your identity in christ: how god sees you.

• God's Will , Identity in Christ , Identity

Our culture is very interested in the journey of discovering individual identity. Personality tests and dream assessments are available everywhere you look. It seems like everyone is searching for something to tell them who they are, where they belong and how they relate to the world.

The Bible says that all men and women are created in God’s image. Humankind was created to reflect some of God’s attributes. You can look for your identity anywhere, but followers of Jesus are called to find their identity in Him.

Where Do You Find Your Identity?

While our world encourages you to look within yourself for your identity, your natural tendency is to search for your identity in external things. 

One of the first places that you can be tempted to look to is your career. Spending your time and energy pursuing your career can cause you to feel like it is a defining characteristic of who you are. After all, a job that you are dedicated to is likely to take up most of your time and attention. 

Jobs and careers are closely connected to other places where you can search for your identity, such as financial success and status. But it doesn’t stop there. People also ask their relationship statuses, appearance, grades and reputation to provide a sense of identity.

Any or all of these may feel like solid foundations, but none of them are permanent. Any of them could change without warning. If you base your identity on things like success, wealth, power, physical appearance and so on,  you are setting yourself up for great disappointment. A sudden job loss could leave you questioning your choices in life. One piece of gossip aimed your way could destroy your reputation, even if it is untrue. Your appearance will change as you get older.

God, however, is unchanging. He is reliable. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. If you find your identity in Him, you will never ultimately be let down because He has proven time and time again to be trustworthy. 

It is important, as you define your identity, that God not be just an aspect of who you are, like “I am a Christian,” or ”I am religious,” or “I am spiritual”.  Understanding your identity in God starts with understanding who He is, what He says about Himself, and what He says about you. Your identity can be defined by who God is making you to be in His image.  

How God Sees His Children

To be able to understand your identity as a follower of Christ, you need to understand how He sees you. It’s tempting to build your identity on what you accomplish, but this is not a stable foundation.

Your true identity is ultimately based on what God has done for you. In the Bible, God tells us often about how He views His people. Let’s take a look at what He says about you, if you received Him as your Lord and Savior. (Learn how to have a personal relationship with God and ask Him to be your Lord and Savior.)  

You Are Loved

In Christ, you are loved. You were created with a purpose. You are not just a convenient carbon copy of someone else. You were created uniquely and with intention. God lovingly designed every detail of your person. Can you imagine the love involved with that intricate design?  

You Are Chosen

In Christ, you are not only loved but chosen. God sent His own Son to earth to die in your place so that you could be included in His family . 

God was not obligated to choose you based on your performance or credentials. He chose to carry out an intricate plan that involved the death of His own perfect Son, which allowed you the opportunity to be a child of God.

You are no mistake. You are chosen and wanted.  

You Are Forgiven

In order to be counted a child of the perfect Father, you had to be free of sin — that is, you had to be perfect with regard to doing right and not doing wrong. That is a tall order considering no one but Jesus was or is perfect and no one can attain perfection by their own effort. 

However, because Jesus, who was without sin, died the death you should have on the cross, you can be forgiven of sin. What you’ve done wrong is not counted against you, and all that Christ did right is counted for you. This forgiveness allows you to be considered a child of God. 

Therefore, in God’s eyes, if you have accepted what Jesus did for you, you are completely forgiven. From His perspective, you are without sin. It’s not that you won’t sin, but when He looks at you, He calls you forgiven. That is something on which you can build your identity.   

You Are Redeemed

What does your forgiveness mean? You are redeemed — that is, Christ’s sacrifice has bought you back from the forces of sin and evil that once owned and controlled you and made you His.

When God looks at you, He does not see a former sinner. He does not see you in light of who you once were. He sees you as redeemed: a new creation that has been made whole. 

You do not have to define yourself in light of your past mistakes. God does not do that. You can walk in the identity of someone who is made new in Christ.  

You Are Adopted

What does it mean to be considered a child of God? It means that you have been adopted into His family. You are considered a legitimate child of the God of the universe, having all the rights and standing of Jesus His Son. 

God sees you as a cherished child who bears His name. Just as earthly adoption is a legally binding process that names you a permanent part of a family, heavenly adoption is just as permanent and binding. You are His child, and He will never take that away.

What the Bible Says About Identity in Christ

You don’t have to take anyone’s word for it. Actually, God wants you to find out for yourself by reading His Word. It is so important that you go to the Bible to find out how He feels about you. Your identity should never be based on a hope or a guess. God gave us His Word, the Bible, so you can know Him and know who He is making you to be in Him.

“You are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household.” (Ephesians 2:19, New International Version)

You are a member of His household, not a stranger. If you follow Christ, you belong in God’s household and with His people.

In this passage, Paul is encouraging followers of Christ to remember that they are all part of one family. They are to be unified with each other.  This can only happen if you understand that you are a legitimate child of God. You are part of His family.    

“God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” (2 Corinthians 9:8, NIV)

As a child of God, you are blessed and provided for. God is able to provide you with everything you need in Christ. He is the Owner of everything and the Giver of all good things.   

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.” (1 John 3:1, NIV)

In Christ, you are loved. Your identity is a child of God. This Bible verse comes from a chapter that warns against the temptation to stray from God into sin. You can resist sin by remembering that God has the best for His children. He offers you more than the world ever could. You are complete in His love.  

“The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in His love He will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.” (Zephaniah 3:17, NIV)

Jesus delights in you. You are not just accepted or put up with. You are welcomed into His family with delight.

When correction comes, it lasts for a short time because the goal is for it to help you reflect God’s holy character more accurately. He delights in you so much that He is making you more like Himself day by day.  

“God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21, NIV)

You are God’s righteousness. You are His goodness and rightness because of what Christ did on the cross. This was given to you, and you are called righteous by the Lord of the universe.

You can live in light of the righteousness you were given. It not only allows you to approach God with confidence, but it allows you to be an ambassador to others around you. Because your righteousness is not earned but freely given through faith in Jesus , you can share this gift with others and invite them to be God’s righteousness too.   

“Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” (Colossians 3:13, NIV)

You are forgiven. If you are a follower of Christ, you have become God’s child because the Lord forgave you for the sin you committed against Him.

As someone who is forgiven, you can now freely forgive others. God extended grace — that is, undeserved favor — to you. You can extend that grace to others around you.   

“We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10, NIV)

You were created with a purpose. God had specific intentions for your life when He brought you into the world. First and foremost, your purpose is to know Him and glorify Him. Then you can engage in other good works that will bring God glory and grow your own faith.

You were saved from great sin. Now, as a child of God, you can walk with God and do great good through His work in you.  

“If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17, NIV)

In Christ, you are a new creation. God has made you new. The old things that used to define you have been taken away. God used to identify you as an enemy, but now he knows you as a child. You who were a sinner are now righteous.

You are new because through Jesus your sin has been paid for. You have been restored in right standing before God.   

“You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:9, NIV) You are special to God. You are chosen by Him. This verse comes from a passage that talks about how Christ was rejected by many. But by faith in Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit, if you trust in Jesus, you are part of His holy, chosen people. You can rid yourself of things that are part of the old you, part of the darkness, such as deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander because you have been brought into wonderful light.

Obstacles to Believing in Your Identity

Even if you know all these things about where a follower of Christ finds their identity, there can often be obstacles standing in the way of believing who you are in Christ. Other sources of identity often stand in the way, such as career, appearance or money. But there are other things that can distract you as well.  

Everyone has made mistakes. Everyone has sinned. If you accept Christ, God forgives you of these things.  

Psalm 103:12 (NIV) says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” Transgression is another word for sin or mistakes. God removes your sin from you. You will still often remember your sins, and those memories can make you feel unworthy, keeping you from accepting your true identity.  

Outside Messages or Experiences

You might not just remember what you have done; you may also remember what people have done to you. Maybe you were treated poorly or neglected. Maybe people told you negative things about yourself.  

The world is broken by sin. There are people who have experienced unspeakable injustice. From gossip to verbal and physical abuse, outside messages are trying to shape your identity every day. Those outside messages can lead you to believe that you are unworthy of what the Bible says is true of you in Christ.  

False Beliefs

As you follow Jesus, you will seek to know Him more. You can do this through time in the Word, through prayer, through talking with friends or a mentor and through gathering together with other believers in worship.

As your understanding of God grows, you may recognize flawed beliefs that you held before that do not line up with what you are hearing and learning about your identity now. 

Maybe you grew up learning that you can lose your salvation. Maybe you thought that there were certain behaviors or sins that disqualify you from receiving Christ’s salvation. There are many false beliefs out there that seem correct but really take away from who God is and what He says. It can be confusing to work through these differences.  

How Can You Respond?

These obstacles are difficult to navigate. It’s easy to believe that these things are legitimate barriers to following Jesus. But by the power of the Holy Spirit, you can overcome these obstacles and live fully in the identity that you were given in Jesus.  

The word “repent” means that you agree with God. So the first thing you can do to embrace your identity is to agree with Him that you are believing things that are no longer true of you. 

Bring the things you are struggling with to Him. Admit that they are difficult for you to overcome. Confess that you believe Him when He says that they are no longer true of you.  

Many places in scripture encourage believers of Jesus to mourn over their sin. Although your sin no longer defines your identity, you do still experience its effects in your life. Therefore, it is legitimate and even important to grieve the sin that keeps you from truly believing the things Jesus says. 

You can also grieve the sins that were committed against you and all that those wounds cost you. You can grieve the effect that it had on your relationship with the Lord. 

Paul was one of the leaders of the early church who helped write the Bible’s New Testament. In a letter to one church, which we now know as the Bible’s book of 1 Thessalonians, he talks about how to mourn for lost loved ones. He helps us to understand how we can grieve well.

“Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13, NIV).

In this passage, “those who sleep in death” is referring to followers of Jesus who have passed away. Paul says that we can grieve that they are no longer here and yet have hope that in Jesus they live in eternity.

The same principle applies to grief over sin. You can grieve your own sin and the sin of others, all the while knowing that you have hope in Christ. You are a new creation. You are forgiven and restored in Jesus.  

Invite the Lord to Change Your Mind

When you have confessed and grieved these things, you can ask God to help you believe what is true . He is the one who renews your mind and changes your heart.

God is the one who grows your faith and makes you new. Ask Him to help you believe the things that He says of you.  Ask Him to continue to make you into the person that He intends you to be in Jesus. 

He is faithful, and He will do it.  

Invite Others to Help You

God never meant for you to walk with Jesus on your own. He brings people into your life so that you can encourage one another.

When you are struggling with past sin or false and discouraging beliefs, share that struggle with a trusted friend. Inviting others to pray for you and remind you of the truth can be so beneficial.

A believer that is farther along on their faith journey can provide great insight to you as you walk with Jesus. Consider inviting a fellow believer to mentor you in areas that are a struggle for you.

When Christ followers bear one another’s burdens, they not only grow closer to the Lord, but they grow in unity with other Christ followers.

Seeing Yourself as God Sees You Matters

If you put your faith in Jesus, you have a new identity in Him. The more you get to know Jesus through His word and time in prayer, the more you will understand your identity in Him.

The more you get to know Jesus, the more you will be able to identify areas of your life that you are not living in this identity by the power of the Holy Spirit .

If you believed that you were all that God says you are in Christ, how would that change the way you lived, the way you interact with others, or the way that you relate to the Lord? 

As you find your identity in Christ, you will grow to look more like Him and less like the world. You will grow in intimacy with Him and with other believers.  

Where Do I Go From Here?

To learn more about finding your identity in Christ, go through the exercise described in “ How to Discover Your True Identity ."  

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Essay on Faith | Faith Essay for Students and Children in English

February 13, 2024 by Prasanna

Essay on Faith:  The term faith can be defined as the confidence and trust in a person, concept or a thing. Faith is different for everyone – having faith in something, or someone means believing in them and being able to trust them completely.

Religious faith and non-religious faith are two different things. Faith is a belief, which holds to every person –religious or non-religious. Faith is the hope that a person has, which also determines how the person decides to lead their life.

You can also find more  Essay Writing  articles on events, persons, sports, technology and many more.

Long and Short Essays on Faith for Students and Kids in English

We are providing students with essay samples on a long essay of 500 words and a short essay of 150 words on the topic Faith for reference.

Long Essay on Faith 500 Words in English

Long Essay on Faith is usually given to classes 7, 8, 9, and 10.

Having faith is the essence of having hope. No matter how high one’s aspirations maybe if they keep trusting in themselves and embrace faith, their dreams turn into reality. Faith teaches us persistence and determination – nothing is possible when faith is absent. Faith serves as the driving force behind all the greatest endeavours that have ever been and are still being pursued in this world. Faith gives a person the push that they need to achieve their goals and fulfil their dreams – which they have set for themselves. Hence every new invention, discovery and success is possible because of the faith that was held on to during the tough times.

Faith not only means worshipping or believing in an idol. One can have faith without any prayers or any idols. Faith goes a long way in making an individual’s life happier and full of achievements. Having faith is necessary as even if one fails, faith gives them the strength to embrace the failures and try again. Faith cannot be taught, forced or imbibed into a person. It comes from within and serves as the determiner of one’s attitude towards life. Faith gives one motivation and also strength and enthusiasm for achieving their goals. Faith also serves as an important factor in determining the success or failure of one’s dreams – when faith is lost, failure is forthcoming.

A person who has any skills, intelligence or capabilities cannot accomplish their set goals if he or she lacks faith. Faith serves as the foundation of any mission that a person undertakes and has hope and will to complete. Even if having faith doesn’t make the struggles go away, it gives one the strength to face your challenges head-on and not let them drag them down.

Faith helps in keeping a person’s aim clear to them and helps them focus on their destination by not being deterred by the hardships that come their way. An individual feels enlightened and doesn’t lose their heart in a moment of hopelessness – is they have faith.

Great men and saints have lived their lives challenging the mainstream and stereotypes. They have accomplished tasks and missions that ordinary men were far from achieving. It was their faith, hope and belief that helped them achieve all this. Freedom fighters have faith in their country and themselves and have won great battles. This faith has also helped them in not getting disheartened when they have encountered failure. A doctor has full faith in his abilities that gives him the strength to cure his patients.

Even in the epics, there are examples of great characters like Lord Krishna, who won the battle against evil forces with his faith in goodness and fairness. Swami Vivekananda is another example of great men who practised and preached the power of faith to people and used it to get rid of most miseries faced by people. Mother Teresa had faith in humanity and brotherhood – and she kept serving the poor and sick selflessly. People still have in goodness for the selfless and kind contributions of people like her. History and one’s own experience has innumerable examples to showcase that faith is the mother of success and force of life.

Short Essay on Faith 150 Words in English

Short Essay on Faith is usually given to classes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.

Faith can be defined as having complete confidence or trust in a person or a thing. Faith is that distant light that stills keeps us moving even when the circumstances and surroundings seem to fall apart. When one has faith and keeps practising hard work courage and determination, there is nothing that can stop them from winning.

People who have succeeded in life and have made a change in the world is because they had faith in themselves and their beliefs. Every great achiever has always said that the reason why they are where they are in life is that they had faith in themselves. Faith is what made the impossible possible.

Having faith doesn’t always have to religious. One can even have faith without any deities or religion. Faith is something that comes with time – it cannot be put into something but is something that some builds with experience and time.

10 Lines on Faith in English

• Everyone has a different perspective on faith.
• Faith is not about what we claim to believe, but faith is what we truly believe in.
• Faith means believing in something true for both a religious and non-religious person.
• Faith doesn’t necessarily have to be religious.
• A struggle becomes much easier when the person has faith in themselves.
• Having faith doesn’t always need prayers and an idol; it can be practised from within.
• Having faith gives a person the hope to hold on in situations where everything seems dull and dark.
• One’s faith is completely one’s personal choice.
• Faith gives a person the strength to achieve their goals and aspirations.
• If one loses faith, failure is inevitable.

FAQ’s on Faith Essay

Question 1.  Does faith always have to be religious?

Answer: Faith doesn’t always necessarily have to be religious. Every living being – whether religious or non-religious – must have faith.

Question 2. Why is faith necessary?

Answer: Faith sometimes is the only brink of light during tough times that keep one moving forward. Faith gives one the strength in times of weaknesses. Without faith, one cannot survive.

Question 3.  Can faith have negative consequences?

Answer: Sometimes, faith can have negative consequences when an individual starts believing in the wrong things. This happens due to wrong company which can have deadly consequences.

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Short Essay & Paragraph On Faith For Students

Faith is what enables people to move on when things get difficult and what brings them back to good after bad decisions. It is important to show confidence in yourself and others around you. You never know how far your prayers will go for someone else, even if that person is the most unlikely.

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Paragraph on Topic Faith in Yourself

Just like my family, I’ve always had faith in myself, but it wasn’t there all the time. I’ve often made the wrong decisions: preferring boys to friends; spending time with people who haven’t encouraged me; not doing my homework or homework because I was too busy hanging out with friends, and spending money because I didn’t think about the future.

I was fortunate to have a family who loved me no matter what, and they were always there to pick me up when I fell. They never gave up on me and never lost faith in me.

I think that’s the most important thing about faith; it has to be worked on. You can’t just say “I have faith” and then don’t do anything about it. It is something that you must earn through your actions and prayers . God always listens, and he will help you if you let him.

No matter, what happens in this life, I know that my loved family and I will always have faith in each other, in ourselves, and God. It is something that can never be taken away.

What exactly is this belief? Webster’s dictionary defines it as trust or confidence in a person or thing. In the Bible, faith is described as the certainty of hope, the conviction of things that cannot be seen (Hebrews 11:1). What does it all mean?

To put it simply, to believe is to believe in something that cannot be seen. It is trust in God no matter what happens in your life. It has hope for the future, even when it is difficult. Faith also means being willing to do whatever is necessary to follow Jesus Christ, even if that means making sacrifices.

Faith was everything to me. It was the light at the end of the tunnel in difficult times, and it gave me hope when I didn’t think it would get better. It was also a source of strength when I needed it most. And I know that I am not alone—millions of people around the world believe in God, no matter what their religious beliefs may be.

What does it all mean for you? Well, first and foremost, it means that you are never alone. No matter what happens in this life, you can always turn to God for help . He is always there for you and will never leave you. Second, it means that you should always have hope for the future.

It’s tough right now, but it’s getting better. God has a plan for your life and he will never misdirect you. After all, it means that you should always be ready to do whatever is necessary to follow Jesus Christ. Even if it’s difficult or you have to make some compromises, it will be worth it in the end.

Essay On Faith

Faith can be defined as a belief in something for which there is no proof or evidence. It is often associated with religious beliefs, but it can also refer to a belief in oneself, in others, or in a higher power or purpose. Faith can provide individuals with a sense of purpose and direction, and can also help to provide comfort and security in difficult times.

Faith can also play a significant role in shaping one’s values and actions. For example, religious faith may influence an individual’s views on issues such as morality, social justice, and the environment. Faith can also be a source of inspiration and motivation, encouraging individuals to take positive actions in the world.

However, faith can also be a source of division and conflict. Different individuals and groups may have different beliefs and values, and these differences can lead to disagreements and even violence. It is important for individuals to respect the faith and beliefs of others, even if they do not agree with them.

Faith can be a personal and private matter, and the level of importance placed on it can vary greatly from one person to another. Some people may find that faith plays a central role in their lives, while others may have little or no interest in it. Regardless of the level of importance placed on faith, it can have a profound impact on an individual’s life.

Short essay on faith in God

Faith in God is the belief in the existence of a higher power or supreme being who is responsible for the creation and maintenance of the universe. This belief is central to many religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, and it can play a significant role in shaping an individual’s values, actions, and worldview.

Believing in God can provide individuals with a sense of purpose and meaning in life, as well as a source of comfort and guidance in times of difficulty. It can also serve as a moral compass, providing individuals with a framework for making ethical and moral decisions. Additionally, believing in God can help individuals to find a sense of belonging and connection with a larger community of believers.

However, faith in God can also be a source of controversy and debate. Some individuals may question the existence of God or reject the idea of a higher power altogether. Additionally, different religions may have different beliefs about the nature of God and how to worship or connect with him, which can lead to conflicts and misunderstandings.

Ultimately, faith in God is a deeply personal and subjective belief that can have a profound impact on an individual’s life. For some, it can provide a sense of hope and peace, while for others it may not be a significant part of their life. Regardless of one’s personal beliefs, it is important to respect and tolerate the diverse perspectives and faith of others.

Short essay on faith can move mountains

The phrase “faith can move mountains” is often used to express the idea that faith can accomplish seemingly impossible tasks and overcome great obstacles. This phrase is rooted in religious and spiritual beliefs, and suggests that faith in a higher power or in oneself can be a powerful force for change and progress.

Faith can provide individuals with the courage and determination to tackle difficult challenges and pursue their goals. It can give people the strength to persevere in the face of adversity, and the belief that they can achieve their dreams. By having faith, individuals can overcome their fear, doubts, and insecurities, and can approach their challenges with a positive attitude and unwavering determination.

Faith can also be a source of inspiration and motivation for others. When individuals have faith in their abilities and in the possibilities of the future, they can inspire and motivate others to do the same. This can create a positive and productive environment, where people work together towards a common goal, encouraged by each other’s faith.

However, faith alone is not enough to move mountains. It must be combined with hard work, dedication, and perseverance. Faith can give you the determination and motivation to keep going, but it is the actions that you take and the effort you put in that will ultimately make the difference.

In summary, faith can be a powerful force that can help individuals to overcome obstacles and achieve great things. It can provide strength, motivation, and inspiration, and can give people the courage and determination to pursue their goals and make a positive impact in the world.

FAQ: On Faith

Q: What is faith?

A: Faith is a belief in something for which there is no proof or evidence. It can be associated with religious beliefs, but it can also refer to a belief in oneself, in others, or in a higher power or purpose.

Q: How can faith shape one’s values and actions?

A: Faith can play a significant role in shaping one’s values and actions. For example, religious faith may influence an individual’s views on issues such as morality, social justice, and the environment. Faith can also be a source of inspiration and motivation.

Q: How can faith be a source of division and conflict?

A: Different individuals and groups may have different beliefs and values, and these differences can lead to disagreements and even violence. It is important for individuals to respect the faith and beliefs of others, even if they do not agree with them.

Q: Is faith important for everyone?

A: The level of importance placed on faith can vary greatly from one person to another. Some people may find that faith plays a central role in their lives, while others may have little or no interest in it.

Q: How can faith impact an individual’s life?

A: Faith can provide individuals with a sense of purpose and direction, and can also help to provide comfort and security in difficult times. It can also have a profound impact on an individual’s life, regardless of the level of importance placed on it.

Hello! Welcome to my Blog StudyParagraphs.co. My name is Angelina. I am a college professor. I love reading writing for kids students. This blog is full with valuable knowledge for all class students. Thank you for reading my articles.

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Myra Danielson

The journeys of our lives include adventures, meanderings, quests and pilgrimages.

My Faith Journey

“If you are a Christian, keep your bags packed and your eye on the highway, because the life of faith is a continual journey.” Thomas G. Long. Testimony: Talking Ourselves into Being Christian (15)

“We must live forward but understand life backward.” Soren Kierkegaard, quoted in R. Paul Stevens. Aging Matters ( 150)

NOTE: You will find that the content of many writing activities in this “Life Sentences” course overlaps. That is to be expected since in one way or another the activities all focus on your life. However, this writing activity—“My Faith Journey” —relates with special closeness to the one entitled “My Spiritual Testament.” You might think of them as two windows providing views of the same scene, yet with distinct angles of vision. 

You may wish to preview both activities and then decide which one best suits for you as a starting point. You can do one or the other, with significant benefit from either. If you have the energy, you also can do one and then the other, with the potential of later weaving together your two responses.

“Travel far enough to find yourself,” advises Pico Iyer, a British-born essayist and travel writer. Iyer’s travels have taken him to such far-flung locales as Cuba, Canada, Kyoto and Kathmandu, but his counsel may apply to our faith journeys as well. Whether we have ventured much beyond our immediate locale, each of us has made a faith journey through the peaks, valleys, and prairie landscapes of our soul. And, if we are fortunate, we may by now have found ourselves. 

Much of our understanding of the Christian journey of faith has been shaped by the truth of two works of fiction: Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy and John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress . In Dante’s 14th-century poem, the narrator is at the midway point in his life’s journey and he finds himself lost in a dark forest, unable to go forward. His continued journey is by no means straightforward. It takes him, first, through the Inferno —Hades or Hell (“Abandon all hope, you who enter here”); then through Purgatory (up the levels of the Seven-Storey Mountain), and finally to Paradise (with its nine heavenly levels). 

The picture that John Bunyan paints in his 17th-century allegory is similar. One’s faith journey is not all “Onward and Upward, the Spiritual Life goes better every day.”  In Bunyan’s story, the central figure—Christian—goes through a number of different stages, including some very difficult ones: 

• The Slough of Despond
• The Hill of Difficulty
• The Valley of Destruction
• The Valley of the Shadow of Death
• Vanity Fair, and 
• Castle Doubt

Dante’s epic poem is regarded as the greatest work in Italian literature; Bunyan’s 

religious allegory is a significant landmark in English literature. Each has given rise to real-life accounts of a faith journey. Thomas Merton, an American Trappist monk, titled his spiritual autobiography The Seven Storey Mountain, alluding to Dante’s Purgatorio, and Paul Hiebert, a Manitoba writer, called his memoir Doubting Castle, after Giant Despair’s dungeon in Bunyan’s work.

Like Merton or Hiebert, we may feel inspired by such great writers as Dante and Bunyan. Yet we need not be great writers to recall our faith journey. We simply need to be willing to invest the time and energy, remembering some of the key experiences in our faith development. Perhaps when you became a Christian you assumed that if you embraced the faith, you had done what was needed. End-of-story. For the next fifty or sixty years, you would just try to toe the line and not mess up.  By our age, however, most of us know that isn’t the way it plays out. Like the medical doctors and university professors who study the human life-cycle, we know that our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual development continues and that our maturity grows through stages.

Father Richard Rohr, a member of the Franciscan order, speaks of our spiritual development as a movement through two stages. In his book Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life, Rohr describes the first half of life as a time focused on outward concerns: establishing our adult identity; acquiring a home and possessions; making friends; perhaps getting married and starting a family; concerning ourselves with financial security and outward success; and basically working toward a happy and productive life.

Then if we continue growing, Rohr says, we encounter some kind of a fall, a failure, or a change that compels us to turn inward, asking ourselves “Is this all there is? Is this what life really is all about?” We begin to pay more attention to our inner tasks. Rohr calls this transition—from the first stage of our faith life to the second half—“falling upward.” It may be a gradual change, or it may come abruptly as the result of an accident, an illness or a sudden loss. This transition is seldom easy but it can be reassuring to think of it, not just as a “falling down” but a “falling upward.”

Rohr sees this as a time of redefining “home,” not as a dwelling on which we pay a mortgage, but as a metaphor for our soul, as a time of looking inward and embracing the Mystery of God. “None of us go into our spiritual maturity completely of our own accord, or by a totally free choice,” Rohr contends. “We are led by Mystery , which religious people rightly call grace” (xvi). 

Rohr suggests that this midlife transition seems counter-intuitive, an apparent “falling down” that is a necessary “falling upward.” This “down-then-up” perspective does not fit well with our Western philosophy, says Rohr, yet it is the message of most of the world’s religions, “including and especially Christianity” (xxii).

Numerous other writers also have described the stages in our faith journey. James Fowler’s Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development and the Quest for Meaning is one of the most useful studies, though a bit challenging to read due to its academic style and scholarly intent. Dr. Fowler identifies six stages of faith, based on extensive research and interviews with many believers in a variety faith traditions. 

Instead of just considering the “big picture” (like the two halves of spirituality that Father Rohr speaks of), Fowler’s model offers a more precise tool for understanding our faith journey and experience. The third stage—one focused on creeds, community, and confidence—may give way to a more difficult fourth stage, characterized by confusion, doubt, even disbelief. For those who are not permanently lost to spiritual exploration, there may come a fifth stage of religious reconnection and, in a few instances, even a sixth stage with an inclusive vision and sacrificial service to others.

We can learn from such writers as Richard Rohr and James Fowler and from their literary predecessors Dante and Bunyan. Yet looking back from these elder years,  our main take-away may be that one’s journey of faith tends not to be straightforward. Quite likely our youthful ideals, aspirations and certainty have been tested.  We probably can recall our own mid-life experience of “falling upward,” our “dark nights of the soul,” and our anxieties as we wrestled with doubt and confusion. If we are blessed, we might also now speak of a providential reconnection with our earlier confidence and of a new way of being in faith that buoys our spirits as we continue in our faith journey.

This writing activity, like its Faith Journey subject, unfolds in stages. 

• First, selecting from a series of questions, you will recall experiences from your journey of faith. 
• Then, considering additional questions, you will reflect on those experiences, seeking in this review a fresh perspective and transformative understanding. 
• Finally, if you are willing, you will draw on both your recollections and reflections to create a legacy account to share with others.

Stage 1: Recalling Your Faith-Journey Experiences 

The questions below aim to stimulate your memories. Chose only as many to answer as you find to be helpful. For some, that may be only a few. For others, it may be more.

The important thing is to begin writing about your unique journey of faith. Once you begin, one recollection is likely to lead to another. 

You need not respond to the questions in any particular order. Let your memories flow and jot them down in whatever way they come to you. Your main goal should be to get them in writing. They can always be organized more logically at a later time, should you choose to do that.

• Likely your spiritual faith has changed over the years and decades. What do you recall of your childhood beliefs? What seemed especially important to you?
• What are your first memories of church? Which church was it and where was it located?
• What are your first memories of Bible stories? Which stories from that time do you remember in particular and who told them to you?
• Which early prayers did you learn? (e.g. for mealtime, for bedtime). What impact (if any) did these prayers have on you
• What influence did your parents, siblings or other relatives have on your early faith development?
• Did you attend Sunday School, Summer Bible School, children’s clubs or any camp which offered faith-related instruction? If so, what memories do you have?
• As you grew older, did you take any catechism classes or similar instruction in religious belief?
• Did you have a personal Bible as a child? If so, when did you receive it and from whom?
• As you developed spiritual awareness, did you make any kind of personal commitment to God? As best you recall, what were the circumstances?
• Were you baptized or confirmed in a church service? If so, when did this occur and what do you remember of the event?
• During your teenage years, did you attend any youth group that had a faith-based orientation? If so, what are your recollections? What influence did this involvement have on your subsequent faith commitment?
• Did you attend worship services with any regularity? What was the nature of those services? What did you especially like (or dislike) about them?
• Did you attend any special religious meetings (e.g. Church youth conferences? Mission trips? Revival meetings?)
• During your teen years, what exposure (if any) did you have to other church denominations or faith traditions? What was your reaction or response to these alternative expressions of faith?
• During your teen years or coming-of-age years, did any religious leader have a particular influence on you, either positively or negatively?
• During those years, did you read any books, view any movies, or hear any radio broadcasts that had a particular influence on you?
• During those years, what spiritual concerns (if any) did you have? (e.g. religious doubts, doctrinal questions, etc). Did you experience any kind of spiritual crisis? If so, what were the setting and the circumstances?
• In your adult years, as you learned more about your faith tradition, what misunderstandings (if any) did you need to correct?
• As a young or middle-aged adult, with what questions of faith (if any) did you struggle? Did you experience any times of doubt, confusion, disbelief? If so, what were the circumstances? What was the outcome? Were your spiritual concerns resolved or did they continue?
• What have been some of the key verses in your life? Why, or in what way, have these verses been important to you? What understanding or guidance have they provided?
• As you look back over the years, what have been your church involvements or faith-motivated community involvements?
• Have your spiritual pursuits or decisions been motivated by any sense of “calling” or vocation?
• If you currently are active in a faith community, how did you come to be involved with this particular one? What motivates you to continue in this involvement?
• Thinking back over the years of your life, which books (if any) have been especially influential in your spiritual growth?
• What has been the role of music in your life of faith?
• Parker J. Palmer, in his latest book of reflections On The Brink of Everything , recounts how over the past 50 years the writings of Thomas Merton have provided him with “friendship, love, and rescue.” In your reading and thinking, who has illumined the path and accompanied you on your journey”?]
• Have you been an active member in any form of Bible-study group or faith-based reading club?
• As you look back over the years of your life, have you experienced any accidents or major health challenges? If so, what were the circumstances and the outcome? What impact has it had on your faith, positive or negative?
• It is a reality of our later years in life that we confront physical challenges along with loss, sorrow and suffering. With what health issues have you dealt and what has been their lasting impact?How has your faith been shaped by or contributed to your experience? What has helped you to adapt to circumstances you cannot change? What has helped you to face adversity and to “bounce back”?
• As you look back over the years of your life, have others whom you love experienced any accidents or major health challenges? If so, what were the circumstances and the outcome? What impact did it have on your faith, positive or negative?

Stage 2: Reflecting on Your Faith-Journey Experiences 

In Stage 1, you have recalled and recorded a number of experiences in your journey of faith. Now, using the additional guide questions—or ones of your devising—to reflect on those experiences.

Again, do not worry about completing every question. Respond only to those that help you to connect with the experiences you have described.

• Soren Kierkegaard said that we live forward but understand life backward. As you look back over the years of your faith journey, have there been any pivotal turning points? If so, how have these moments of change or of transformation affected the development of your Christian faith? 
• We sometimes hear people speak of “20 / 20 hindsight,” seeing clearly in retrospect what previously was not apparent. Looking back on your faith journey, do you see a deeper meaning in any of your experiences during youth, young adulthood or middle years?
• Have you experienced the transition that Richard Rohr calls “falling upward”? If so, did the change come gradually or more abruptly as the result of an accident, an illness or a sudden loss? What did you learn as a result?
• During which of your experiences have you been pushed outside of your comfort zone? How did this contribute to your spiritual growth?
• Alcoholics Anonymous uses the phrase “Let go and let God.” Do you recall any time(s) in your life when you have had to give up all sense of control and let God provide the direction?
• Over the years how have your spiritual needs changed? Where do you now feel a need for help?
• In your spiritual journey and understanding of faith, where are you feeling challenged or uncertain?  What spiritual questions do you have in your present life? How are you seeking to answer them and address the challenges?
• In your experience, can questioning, doubt, and possible disbelief really be considered a “stage of faith”? What leads you to this response?
• Overall, do you feel that your life is “in balance”? If not, where do you find particular challenges?
• How do you cultivate and maintain a positive outlook?
• What now gives the most meaning and purpose to your life?
• At this point in your life, what especially gives you a sense of hope?
• Who or what in your life most contributes to your sense of happiness
• How would you describe your relationship with Jesus?
• How has God been at work in your life over the last few months?
• What does the word “salvation” mean to you?
• What does the word “discipleship” mean to you?
• How have you explained for yourself and others the presence of evil and suffering in our world?
• As you look back over the years, what has been the role of prayer in your life?
• Do you have any intentional practice of meditation or reflection? If so, what wisdom or insights have you gleaned about the ways of Being—e.g. meditating, praying, being awake and aware of the world around you? 
• How do you deal with life’s disappointments?
• When you are upset about something, how do you react or respond?
• Sometimes we are unfairly criticized by other people.. Have you had such a painful experience? If so, how have you handled it? Has the experience affected your faith journey?
• Throughout our lives we encounter conflict and hurtful situations. What have been your experiences with forgiving and being forgiven?
• Do you feel guilty over any aspect of your life—past or present? If so, how do you seek to deal with it?
• In what ways has your life become more inclusive—of people, of ideas, of feelings?
• When you encounter different perspectives, are you able to appreciate more than your own?
• What would you say is the essence of “God’s story”?
• The story of our lives is not yet complete, but as Christians we are part of a greater story. How do you connect your personal story, especially your faith story, with the Greater Story of God? How do you connect the “I am” of your self to the “Great I Am”? 
• In terms of your spiritual well-being, do you feel you have any “unfinished business”?
• As you look ahead to your spiritual life in future years, in what ways do you still hope to grow?
• If you had an opportunity to meet and chat with your young adult self, what advice might you now offer?

Stage 3: Re-reading Your Faith-Journey Experiences and Reflections

Frederick Buechner is an American novelist, minister and theologian. His central message, he said on more than one occasion, was “Listen to your life.” In his memoir Now & Then , Buechner wrote” “If God speaks to us at all other than through such official channels as the Bible and the church, then I think that he speaks to us largely through what happens to us…” (3).

Our goal, in this third stage of our Faith Journey writing activity, is to “listen to our life” as we re-read what we have written, our recollection of faith-journey experiences (in Stage 1) and our reflections on them (in Stage 2).

As the writer of those recollections and reflections, we of course know what we have written. Yet the act of reading our own writing helps us to shift our point of view, as Gary Kenyon and William Randall note in Restorying Our Lives: Personal Growth Through Autobiographical Reflection. In reading ourselves, they say, “we are effectively taking greater authorship of our lives, opening ourselves to fresh and freeing interpretations of who we are and what we can be” (129). 

In the faith-journey experiences that we have recollected we are the primary character . In our reflections on those experiences, we are the narrator.   Now, as the reader we again change our perspective. Essentially, we are “stepping back from the text of our lives” and “critiquing it with dispassionate yet affectionate concern…” 

Kenyon and Randall suggest that we re-read our responses asking a number of “restorying” questions:  

• What broad patterns can we observe?
• What have been the main events?
• What roles have we played?
• What view of ourself and of the world can we discern? 
• What philosophy of living shines through in our responses? 
• Where do we sense our experiences could have been different and possibly still could change?

“No one but ourselves can tell us who we are, or who we can become,” the authors write. That is why it is vital that we learn to “listen to our life.” Each of us must tell and read the story of our faith journey and then let the direction reveal itself on its own.

T.S. Eliot, a Nobel-Prize winning poet, wrote in his masterful “Four Quartets”: “We shall not cease from exploration / And the end of all our exploring / Will be to arrive where we started / And know the place for the first time.” It is our hope and prayer that recalling our experiences, reflecting on them, and then re-reading them dispassionately but affectionately, we will arrive at a deeper knowledge of who we are and where we are in this place and time.

Stage 4 :  Recounting Your Story for Others

In Stages 1, 2, and 3, we have been writing for ourselves, focusing on our own personal growth. Our task in this fourth and final stage—should you choose to continue—will be to write for others. We will weave together our recollected experiences and our reflections on them, aiming to leave a legacy.

WHY LEAVE A LEGACY?

Our motives for leaving a spiritual legacy are not significantly different from those that lead us to bequeath money and property to people we love. Our spiritual legacy may be a more heartfelt gift. 

C.S. Lewis was a renowned scholar and a prolific writer on literary and religious subjects. He left a rich heritage, one chronicled by Terry Glaspey in The Spiritual Legacy of C.S. Lewis. We may not be scholars or gifted writers, but we too can share from the the bounty of our own journey of faith. We too have known the joys and challenges that come as we embrace the Christian faith and discern its relevance to the thorny issues of our day.

Some people worry that writing such an account is a sign of vanity. In fact, it is a sign of vitality. Gerontologists tell us that transmitting a legacy to future generations is one of the primary tasks of our elder years. If our relationship with God has been important in our lives, we need to communicate the varied nature of our spiritual experiences. We treasure the wisdom and guidance of Bible stories and we can trust God that our readers also will learn much from our personal stories.

Other people worry that their children or friends will not be interested. Sometimes these are the same people who express regret they did not ask more about their parents’ thoughts and experiences. It is true that younger family members and friends are busy with their lives, as we once were. Yet very likely the day will come when they will be grateful for all that we have shared and for the love that motivates our effort.

In his third memoir, Telling Secrets , Frederick Buechner has spoken of his reason for sharing the story of his faith. “My story is important not because it is mine,” he writes, “but because if I tell it anything like right, the chances are you will recognize that in many ways it is also yours. Maybe nothing is more important than that we keep track, you and I, of these stories of who we are and where we have come from and the people we have met along the way because it is precisely through theses stories in all their particularity….that God makes himself known to each of us most powerfully and personally.”  To lose track of our stories, Buechner says, is to be “profoundly impoverished not only humanly but also spiritually” (40). 

WHO IS IT FOR?

We have noted the personal value of writing about our Faith Journey—how our recollected experiences and subsequent reflections on them can afford us a fresh perspective on who we are at this age and stage of life.

Our writing also has a more public value. We might share it with family members, interested friends and anyone with whom we discuss matters of faith—our pastor; our church historian; our spiritual director, if we have one. Likely we already know the persons for whom the story of our faith journey will have most relevance, either now or later. 

“One travels in search of spiritual Truth much as one travels in search of scenic vista and grandeurs,” wrote Paul Hiebert in his memoir Doubting Castle , noting that he was “sharing experience with others so that they might not find themselves too much alone if they happen to be traveling the same way” (109). Hiebert’s words may remind us of those of the prophet Jeremiah, when Israelite exiles returned from Babylonian captivity to Jerusalem. “Set up markers for yourself,” Jeremiah declared, “make yourself signposts; consider well the highway, the road by which you went…” (Jer. 31: 21).

For those of us who have made a difficult journey from spiritual exile back to belief, our faith-journey account may provide a kind of signpost, one that assures others “You are not alone and this is not the final destination.” 

Ultimately, good stories find their own audiences. Our main concern is to write as well as we can and with as much candour as we dare.

HOW DO I WRITE “MY FAITH JOURNEY”?

For many of us, writing about our faith journey will be easier than formulating a spiritual testament. A spiritual testament is mostly expository writing, an explanation or direct statement of one’s ideas and beliefs. Our faith journey, by contrast, is more of a story, a narrative account filled with incidents, encounters, experiences and feelings.

Each of us, whether we are deemed to be ‘talkative’ or the ‘strong, silent type,’ has considerable experience telling stories. We have been doing so most of our lives.

As well, we likely have generated at least a small body of material in our Stage 1 Recalling and our Stage 2 Reflecting. The challenge now is to determine some kind of order, to puzzle out which pieces fit where. It may help to remember that “writing is a process” and often a messy one. In moments of insight, we might see how one thought or experience connects to another, but often the organization is a matter of trial and error. 

A second challenge—perhaps a greater one—is to manage the length. This is the downside of a story being easier to write. What begins as a simple, straightforward narrative, five or six pages in length, grows as one adds further memories. Eventually, the account may be 45, 50 or 60 pages in length. This is not a bad problem to have. As a piece written for oneself, the length is to be celebrated, provided one does not feel overwhelmed by all of the material. One might even consider further expansion and the development of a book. Yet for many of us, as we think of family members and friends who may read our account, we desire something more concise.

As with expository writing, it helps if we can identify a central idea that runs through our many recollections and reflections. When John Bunyan, author of The Pilgrim’s Progress , wrote about his faith journey in 1666, he was mindful of God’s grace in his life. His account was titled Grace Abounding and most of his recollections reflected that theme. Katie Funk Wiebe, a Mennonite writer and college professor, transitioned into retirement only to find herself struggling with depression and a sense of ambivalence. As she sought to adapt her identity to new circumstances and find new ways of making sense and meaning, she felt she felt a need to articulate her experience “crossing the border into the land of aging” (9). The result was Border Crossing: A Spiritual Journey. 

Every story has a chronology, an inner time clock or calendar that keeps moving forward. Some writers “begin at the beginning,” and then doggedly work their way forward. It can be an exhaustive effort and, even worse, dull reading. A useful step, as you organize your material, is to determine the scope of your story. Will you review the development of your faith from earliest memories onward? Or will you highlight a particular period in your life, perhaps one that includes key moments and transformative experiences? Manitoba writer Betty Enns used the latter approach in Living Our Prayer: A Four-Year African Adventure into Faith . As the title implies, Enns’ memoir recounts four years of service that she and husband Bill did during with Mennonite Central Committee in Lesotho, Africa. Even so, her story draws in pivotal experiences that preceded and followed their missionary work.

When we listen to a young child retelling a story, we often hear the drum beat words “…and then …and then …and then .” We may smile, but in our own narrative writing we face a similar dilemma: How do we get beyond the next , next , next of our experiences ?   One step is to weave in our reflections, not as a sugar-coated moral but as a lesson learned, a moment of insight, or an aspect of growth.

Another more technical step follows the practice of ancient story tellers: begin in medias res (in the middle of things). Open your story or your particular scene as the action is happening. 

• Sitting on a jet plane at the Winnipeg airport, awaiting the take-off flight to Lesotho ( Living Our Prayer: Betty Enns)
• Waking at 4:30 a.m. in a mountain climber’s tent on the Palisade Glacier, the morning of a life-changing fall ( You Gotta Keep Dancin ’, Tim Hansel)
• Reading a “Dear Shopper” advertisement listing products for the aged ( Border Crossing : Katie Funk Wiebe)
• Contemplating an invitation to speak in a university “Last Lecture” series, knowing you have pancreatic cancer and it well might be your last lecture ( The Last Lecture : Randy Pausch)
• Receiving a nearly inaudible call from a stranger who said, “Your father is dead. He is killed in a car accident.” ( Dreams from My Father : Barack Obama)

You then fill in the “backstory” (background details the reader needs to know) using flashbacks.

In our telling of “My Faith Journey,” as with other stories, we bring a lifetime of practice.

Use it and trust it. And, like all writers, aim to keep learning. “I learn by going where I have to go,” the American poet Theodore Roethke wrote in “The Waking.” That wisdom applies to writing as well as life. You may be able to apply what you learn in the writing lessons found elsewhere in this course, but much of what we do we figure out as we go along.

May you recall readily, record fully, and reflect meaningfully.

Home — Essay Samples — Life — Myself — Personal Beliefs

Essays About Personal Beliefs

Personal beliefs essay topcis.

Personal beliefs are the convictions and values that individuals hold as true and significant in their lives. These beliefs can be shaped by various factors, including cultural background, religious upbringing, personal experiences, and education. The theme of personal beliefs is vast and multifaceted, often touching upon morality, ethics, spirituality, and personal identity. Exploring personal beliefs in an essay allows for deep introspection and examination of how these beliefs influence behavior, decision-making, and interactions with others.

Choosing a Topic for a Personal Beliefs Essay

When selecting a topic for a personal beliefs essay, consider the following steps:

• Reflect on Your Own Beliefs: Start by reflecting on your own personal beliefs and values. What are the core convictions that shape your life? This reflection can provide a strong foundation for your essay.
• Consider Broader Themes: Think about broader themes related to personal beliefs, such as morality, spirituality, social justice, or cultural traditions. How do these themes intersect with your own beliefs?
• Choose the Type of Essay: Decide on the type of essay you wish to write. This could be analytical, narrative, descriptive, argumentative, or compare and contrast.
• Research and Relevance: Ensure that there is enough research material available on the chosen topic if you are writing an analytical or argumentative essay. The topic should also be relevant and engaging to your audience.
• Personal Connection: Select a topic that you have a personal connection with or a strong interest in.

Categories and Types of Media Analysis Essay Topics

• Analytical: Analyze the portrayal of gender roles in "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood.
• Narrative: Write a narrative about how a particular novel changed your perspective on a social issue.
• Comparative: Compare the representation of dystopian societies in "1984" by George Orwell and "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley.
• Descriptive: Describe the impact of literary censorship on society.
• Argumentative: Argue the significance of diverse voices in contemporary literature.

Social Issues

• Analytical: Analyze the media's role in shaping public opinion on climate change.
• Narrative: Share a personal story about how media coverage of a social issue influenced your beliefs.
• Comparative: Compare the portrayal of social justice movements in different news outlets.
• Descriptive: Describe the impact of social media on political activism.
• Argumentative: Argue whether the media has a responsibility to promote social justice.
• Analytical: Analyze the influence of political advertisements on voter behavior.
• Narrative: Narrate an experience of how political media influenced your political views.
• Comparative: Compare the media coverage of two different political events.
• Descriptive: Describe the role of media in a democratic society.
• Argumentative: Argue the effects of media bias on elections.

Entertainment

• Analytical: Analyze the representation of mental health in contemporary television series.
• Narrative: Write a narrative about how a movie or TV show impacted your personal beliefs.
• Comparative: Compare the portrayal of heroism in Marvel and DC movies.
• Descriptive: Describe the evolution of diversity in Hollywood films.
• Argumentative: Argue the importance of representation in media.
• Analytical: Analyze the impact of social media algorithms on information consumption.
• Narrative: Narrate a personal story about how technology has influenced your beliefs.
• Comparative: Compare the media portrayal of technological advancements in different decades.
• Descriptive: Describe the role of media in the digital age.
• Argumentative: Argue the ethical implications of media technology on privacy.
• Analytical: Analyze the portrayal of health crises in the media.
• Narrative: Write a narrative about how media coverage of a health issue impacted your beliefs or actions.
• Comparative: Compare the media coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic with past health crises.
• Descriptive: Describe the role of media in promoting public health awareness.
• Argumentative: Argue the responsibility of the media in addressing misinformation about health.
• Analytical: Analyze the impact of media on consumer behavior.
• Narrative: Narrate a story about how media influenced your views on a particular brand or product.
• Comparative: Compare the portrayal of corporate responsibility in different media outlets.
• Descriptive: Describe the role of media in shaping business ethics.
• Argumentative: Argue the effects of advertising on consumer culture.

Choosing a topic for a personal beliefs essay involves deep reflection on your own values and convictions, and considering broader themes that intersect with these beliefs. By selecting a type of essay and ensuring there is ample research material available, you can create a compelling and insightful essay. Exploring media analysis topics allows you to critically examine how media influences various aspects of society, from literature and social issues to politics and business. By carefully selecting and researching your topic, you can provide a thorough analysis that highlights the profound impact of media on personal beliefs and societal norms.

Personal Belief Thesis Statement Examples

Here are a few examples of personal belief statements:

• I believe in the power of kindness and strive to make a positive impact on those around me through compassionate actions and words.
• I believe in continuous learning and personal growth, seeking out new experiences and knowledge to better myself and the world.
• I believe in the importance of family and friends, cherishing the relationships that provide support, love, and happiness in my life.
• I believe in equality and justice, advocating for fair treatment and opportunities for all individuals, regardless of their background or circumstances.
• I believe in the resilience of the human spirit, knowing that challenges and setbacks are opportunities for growth and strength.
• I believe in the necessity of environmental stewardship, committing to sustainable practices to protect our planet for future generations.
• I believe in the transformative power of creativity, using artistic expression to inspire, heal, and connect with others.

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The impact of beliefs on decision-making regarding the reception of medical help, change is crucial to improve ourselves, what is excellence to me, love and what it means to me, analysis of my political ideology, how let our dreams come true, the fear of being judged in my life, money can't buy happiness and satisfaction, defining my identity and its components, the things i am grateful for in my life, my personal view on religion, the perspectives of my personal philosophy, the reasons why i am against death penalty, effects of defining god as the unknown, discussion of the question 'who am i', importance of college for me, my personal definition of integrity and morals, my favorite athlete: wrestler steve austin, the reasons why i'm proud to be canadian.

Personal beliefs are the principles or convictions that individuals hold to be true, guiding their behaviors, decisions, and perceptions of the world. These beliefs are often influenced by cultural, religious, familial, and personal experiences.

• Personal beliefs can significantly shape a person's identity and influence their life choices.
• Beliefs can change over time due to new experiences, education, and introspection.
• Cognitive dissonance occurs when an individual holds conflicting beliefs, leading to mental discomfort and a drive to reconcile the differences.
• Beliefs are not just confined to religious or spiritual domains but can encompass a wide range of topics including politics, health, and morality.
• The strength of a belief can affect how a person interprets new information and interacts with others who hold different beliefs.

Understanding personal beliefs is crucial as they influence behavior, shape identity, and affect interactions with others. Exploring this topic can lead to greater self-awareness and empathy towards different perspectives, fostering a more inclusive and understanding society. This understanding can also be a compelling subject for Personal_Beliefs ssay topics.

Relevant topics

• Personal Goals
• Self Reflection
• About Myself
• Personal Strengths
• Self Assessment
• Professionalism

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• < Previous chapter

9 Faith and Self-reflection

• Published: April 2003
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Faith, including religious faith, is not simply faith for which there is good evidence for what is trusted in, but also includes a set of beliefs about what is desirable. Hence, at least some kinds of religious faith involve two sorts of beliefs: beliefs about oneself and beliefs about things other than oneself. One such belief about oneself is the belief that one is himself a believer. This is not a belief about what one wants, but a belief about what is believed to be true of him; that is, it is a second-order belief, a belief about a belief. This chapter examines the belief that one is himself a believer and explores the logic of the relation between religious belief and the assurance of faith. It concludes with a discussion of certain current theological misapprehensions about the conditionality of religious faith, the concept of self-reflection, the conditions argument of faith, and the grounds substitution argument.

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10 Personal Statement Essay Examples That Worked

What’s covered:, what is a personal statement.

• Essay 1: Summer Program
• Essay 2: Being Bangladeshi-American
• Essay 3: Why Medicine
• Essay 4: Love of Writing
• Essay 5: Starting a Fire
• Essay 6: Dedicating a Track
• Essay 7: Body Image and Eating Disorders
• Essay 8: Becoming a Coach
• Essay 9: Eritrea
• Essay 10: Journaling
• Is Your Personal Statement Strong Enough?

Your personal statement is any essay that you must write for your main application, such as the Common App Essay , University of California Essays , or Coalition Application Essay . This type of essay focuses on your unique experiences, ideas, or beliefs that may not be discussed throughout the rest of your application. This essay should be an opportunity for the admissions officers to get to know you better and give them a glimpse into who you really are.

In this post, we will share 10 different personal statements that were all written by real students. We will also provide commentary on what each essay did well and where there is room for improvement, so you can make your personal statement as strong as possible!

Please note: Looking at examples of real essays students have submitted to colleges can be very beneficial to get inspiration for your essays. You should never copy or plagiarize from these examples when writing your own essays. Colleges can tell when an essay isn’t genuine and will not view students favorably if they plagiarized. 

Personal Statement Examples

Essay example #1: exchange program.

The twisting roads, ornate mosaics, and fragrant scent of freshly ground spices had been so foreign at first. Now in my fifth week of the SNYI-L summer exchange program in Morocco, I felt more comfortable in the city. With a bag full of pastries from the market, I navigated to a bus stop, paid the fare, and began the trip back to my host family’s house. It was hard to believe that only a few years earlier my mom was worried about letting me travel around my home city on my own, let alone a place that I had only lived in for a few weeks. While I had been on a journey towards self-sufficiency and independence for a few years now, it was Morocco that pushed me to become the confident, self-reflective person that I am today.

As a child, my parents pressured me to achieve perfect grades, master my swim strokes, and discover interesting hobbies like playing the oboe and learning to pick locks. I felt compelled to live my life according to their wishes. Of course, this pressure was not a wholly negative factor in my life –– you might even call it support. However, the constant presence of my parents’ hopes for me overcame my own sense of desire and led me to become quite dependent on them. I pushed myself to get straight A’s, complied with years of oboe lessons, and dutifully attended hours of swim practice after school. Despite all these achievements, I felt like I had no sense of self beyond my drive for success. I had always been expected to succeed on the path they had defined. However, this path was interrupted seven years after my parents’ divorce when my dad moved across the country to Oregon.

I missed my dad’s close presence, but I loved my new sense of freedom. My parents’ separation allowed me the space to explore my own strengths and interests as each of them became individually busier. As early as middle school, I was riding the light rail train by myself, reading maps to get myself home, and applying to special academic programs without urging from my parents. Even as I took more initiatives on my own, my parents both continued to see me as somewhat immature. All of that changed three years ago, when I applied and was accepted to the SNYI-L summer exchange program in Morocco. I would be studying Arabic and learning my way around the city of Marrakesh. Although I think my parents were a little surprised when I told them my news, the addition of a fully-funded scholarship convinced them to let me go.

I lived with a host family in Marrakesh and learned that they, too, had high expectations for me. I didn’t know a word of Arabic, and although my host parents and one brother spoke good English, they knew I was there to learn. If I messed up, they patiently corrected me but refused to let me fall into the easy pattern of speaking English just as I did at home. Just as I had when I was younger, I felt pressured and stressed about meeting their expectations. However, one day, as I strolled through the bustling market square after successfully bargaining with one of the street vendors, I realized my mistake. My host family wasn’t being unfair by making me fumble through Arabic. I had applied for this trip, and I had committed to the intensive language study. My host family’s rules about speaking Arabic at home had not been to fulfill their expectations for me, but to help me fulfill my expectations for myself. Similarly, the pressure my parents had put on me as a child had come out of love and their hopes for me, not out of a desire to crush my individuality.

As my bus drove through the still-bustling market square and past the medieval Ben-Youssef madrasa, I realized that becoming independent was a process, not an event. I thought that my parents’ separation when I was ten had been the one experience that would transform me into a self-motivated and autonomous person. It did, but that didn’t mean that I didn’t still have room to grow. Now, although I am even more self-sufficient than I was three years ago, I try to approach every experience with the expectation that it will change me. It’s still difficult, but I understand that just because growth can be uncomfortable doesn’t mean it’s not important.

What the Essay Did Well

This is a nice essay because it delves into particular character trait of the student and how it has been shaped and matured over time. Although it doesn’t focus the essay around a specific anecdote, the essay is still successful because it is centered around this student’s independence. This is a nice approach for a personal statement: highlight a particular trait of yours and explore how it has grown with you.

The ideas in this essay are universal to growing up—living up to parents’ expectations, yearning for freedom, and coming to terms with reality—but it feels unique to the student because of the inclusion of details specific to them. Including their oboe lessons, the experience of riding the light rail by themselves, and the negotiations with a street vendor helps show the reader what these common tropes of growing up looked like for them personally. 

Another strength of the essay is the level of self-reflection included throughout the piece. Since there is no central anecdote tying everything together, an essay about a character trait is only successful when you deeply reflect on how you felt, where you made mistakes, and how that trait impacts your life. The author includes reflection in sentences like “ I felt like I had no sense of self beyond my drive for success, ” and “ I understand that just because growth can be uncomfortable doesn’t mean it’s not important. ” These sentences help us see how the student was impacted and what their point of view is.

What Could Be Improved

The largest change this essay would benefit from is to show not tell. The platitude you have heard a million times no doubt, but for good reason. This essay heavily relies on telling the reader what occurred, making us less engaged as the entire reading experience feels more passive. If the student had shown us what happens though, it keeps the reader tied to the action and makes them feel like they are there with the student, making it much more enjoyable to read. 

For example, they tell us about the pressure to succeed their parents placed on them: “ I pushed myself to get straight A’s, complied with years of oboe lessons, and dutifully attended hours of swim practice after school.”  They could have shown us what that pressure looked like with a sentence like this: “ My stomach turned somersaults as my rattling knee thumped against the desk before every test, scared to get anything less than a 95. For five years the painful squawk of the oboe only reminded me of my parents’ claps and whistles at my concerts. I mastered the butterfly, backstroke, and freestyle, fighting against the anchor of their expectations threatening to pull me down.”

If the student had gone through their essay and applied this exercise of bringing more detail and colorful language to sentences that tell the reader what happened, the essay would be really great. 

Table of Contents

Essay Example #2: Being Bangladeshi-American

Life before was good: verdant forests, sumptuous curries, and a devoted family.

Then, my family abandoned our comfortable life in Bangladesh for a chance at the American dream in Los Angeles. Within our first year, my father was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. He lost his battle three weeks before my sixth birthday. Facing a new country without the steady presence of my father, we were vulnerable — prisoners of hardship in the land of the free. We resettled in the Bronx, in my uncle’s renovated basement. It was meant to be our refuge, but I felt more displaced than ever. Gone were the high-rise condos of West L.A.; instead, government projects towered over the neighborhood. Pedestrians no longer smiled and greeted me; the atmosphere was hostile, even toxic. Schoolkids were quick to pick on those they saw as weak or foreign, hurling harsh words I’d never heard before.

Meanwhile, my family began integrating into the local Bangladeshi community. I struggled to understand those who shared my heritage. Bangladeshi mothers stayed home while fathers drove cabs and sold fruit by the roadside — painful societal positions. Riding on crosstown buses or walking home from school, I began to internalize these disparities. During my fleeting encounters with affluent Upper East Siders, I saw kids my age with nannies, parents who wore suits to work, and luxurious apartments with spectacular views. Most took cabs to their destinations: cabs that Bangladeshis drove. I watched the mundane moments of their lives with longing, aching to plant myself in their shoes. Shame prickled down my spine. I distanced myself from my heritage, rejecting the traditional panjabis worn on Eid and refusing the torkari we ate for dinner every day. 

As I grappled with my relationship with the Bangladeshi community, I turned my attention to helping my Bronx community by pursuing an internship with Assemblyman Luis Sepulveda. I handled desk work and took calls, spending the bulk of my time actively listening to the hardships constituents faced — everything from a veteran stripped of his benefits to a grandmother unable to support her bedridden grandchild.

I’d never exposed myself to stories like these, and now I was the first to hear them. As an intern, I could only assist in what felt like the small ways — pointing out local job offerings, printing information on free ESL classes, reaching out to non-profits. But to a community facing an onslaught of intense struggles, I realized that something as small as these actions could have vast impacts. Seeing the immediate consequences of my actions inspired me. Throughout that summer, I internalized my community’s daily challenges in a new light. I began to stop seeing the prevalent underemployment and cramped living quarters less as sources of shame. Instead, I saw them as realities that had to be acknowledged, but could ultimately be remedied. I also realized the benefits of the Bangladeshi culture I had been so ashamed of. My Bangla language skills were an asset to the office, and my understanding of Bangladeshi etiquette allowed for smooth communication between office staff and its constituents. As I helped my neighbors navigate city services, I saw my heritage with pride — a perspective I never expected to have.

I can now appreciate the value of my unique culture and background, and of living with less. This perspective offers room for progress, community integration, and a future worth fighting for. My time with Assemblyman Sepulveda’s office taught me that I can be a change agent in enabling this progression. Far from being ashamed of my community, I want to someday return to local politics in the Bronx to continue helping others access the American Dream. I hope to help my community appreciate the opportunity to make progress together. By embracing reality, I learned to live it. Along the way, I discovered one thing: life is good, but we can make it better.

This student’s passion for social justice and civic duty shines through in this essay because of how honest it is. Sharing their personal experience with immigrating, moving around, being an outsider, and finding a community allows us to see the hardships this student has faced and builds empathy towards their situation. However, what really makes it strong is that they go beyond describing the difficulties they faced and explain the mental impact it had on them as a child: Shame prickled down my spine. I distanced myself from my heritage, rejecting the traditional panjabis worn on Eid and refusing the torkari we ate for dinner every day. 

The rejection of their culture presented at the beginning of the essay creates a nice juxtaposition with the student’s view in the latter half of the essay and helps demonstrate how they have matured. They use their experience interning as a way to delve into a change in their thought process about their culture and show how their passion for social justice began. Using this experience as a mechanism to explore their thoughts and feelings is an excellent example of how items that are included elsewhere on your application should be incorporated into your essay.

This essay prioritizes emotions and personal views over specific anecdotes. Although there are details and certain moments incorporated throughout to emphasize the author’s points, the main focus remains on the student and how they grapple with their culture and identity.  

One area for improvement is the conclusion. Although the forward-looking approach is a nice way to end an essay focused on social justice, it would be nice to include more details and imagery in the conclusion. How does the student want to help their community? What government position do they see themselves holding one day? 

A more impactful ending might look like the student walking into their office at the New York City Housing Authority in 15 years and looking at the plans to build a new development in the Bronx just blocks away from where the grew up that would provide quality housing to people in their Bangladeshi community. They would smile while thinking about how far they have come from that young kid who used to be ashamed of their culture. 

Essay Example #3: Why Medicine

I took my first trip to China to visit my cousin Anna in July of 2014. Distance had kept us apart, but when we were together, we fell into all of our old inside jokes and caught up on each other’s lives. Her sparkling personality and optimistic attitude always brought a smile to my face. This time, however, my heart broke when I saw the effects of her brain cancer; she had suffered from a stroke that paralyzed her left side. She was still herself in many ways, but I could see that the damage to her brain made things difficult for her. I stayed by her every day, providing the support she needed, whether assisting her with eating and drinking, reading to her, or just watching “Friends.” During my flight back home, sorrow and helplessness overwhelmed me. Would I ever see Anna again? Could I have done more to make Anna comfortable? I wished I could stay in China longer to care for her. As I deplaned, I wondered if I could transform my grief to help other children and teenagers in the US who suffered as Anna did.

The day after I got home, as jet lag dragged me awake a few minutes after midnight, I remembered hearing about the Family Reach Foundation (FRF) and its work with children going through treatments at the local hospital and their families. I began volunteering in the FRF’s Children’s Activity Room, where I play with children battling cancer. Volunteering has both made me appreciate my own health and also cherish the new relationships I build with the children and families. We play sports, make figures out of playdoh, and dress up. When they take on the roles of firefighters or fairies, we all get caught up in the game; for that time, they forget the sanitized, stark, impersonal walls of the pediatric oncology ward. Building close relationships with them and seeing them giggle and laugh is so rewarding — I love watching them grow and get better throughout their course of treatment.

Hearing from the parents about their children’s condition and seeing the children recover inspired me to consider medical research. To get started, I enrolled in a summer collegelevel course in Abnormal Psychology. There I worked with Catelyn, a rising college senior, on a data analysis project regarding Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). Together, we examined the neurological etiology of DID by studying four fMRI and PET cases. I fell in love with gathering data and analyzing the results and was amazed by our final product: several stunning brain images showcasing the areas of hyper and hypoactivity in brains affected by DID. Desire quickly followed my amazement — I want to continue this project and study more brains. Their complexity, delicacy, and importance to every aspect of life fascinate me. Successfully completing this research project gave me a sense of hope; I know I am capable of participating in a large scale research project and potentially making a difference in someone else’s life through my research.

Anna’s diagnosis inspired me to begin volunteering at FRF; from there, I discovered my desire to help people further by contributing to medical research. As my research interest blossomed, I realized that it’s no coincidence that I want to study brains—after all, Anna suffered from brain cancer. Reflecting on these experiences this past year and a half, I see that everything I’ve done is connected. Sadly, a few months after I returned from China, Anna passed away. I am still sad, but as I run a toy truck across the floor and watch one of the little patients’ eyes light up, I imagine that she would be proud of my commitment to pursue medicine and study the brain.

This essay has a very strong emotional core that tugs at the heart strings and makes the reader feel invested. Writing about sickness can be difficult and doesn’t always belong in a personal statement, but in this case it works well because the focus is on how this student cared for her cousin and dealt with the grief and emotions surrounding her condition. Writing about the compassion she showed and the doubts and concerns that filled her mind keeps the focus on the author and her personality. 

This continues when she again discusses the activities she did with the kids at FRF and the personal reflection this experience allowed her to have. For example, she writes: Volunteering has both made me appreciate my own health and also cherish the new relationships I build with the children and families. We play sports, make figures out of playdoh, and dress up.

Concluding the essay with the sad story of her cousin’s passing brings the essay full circle and returns to the emotional heart of the piece to once again build a connection with the reader. However, it finishes on a hopeful note and demonstrates how this student has been able to turn a tragic experience into a source of lifelong inspiration. 

One thing this essay should be cognizant of is that personal statements should not read as summaries of your extracurricular resume. Although this essay doesn’t fully fall into that trap, it does describe two key extracurriculars the student participated in. However, the inclusion of such a strong emotional core running throughout the essay helps keep the focus on the student and her thoughts and feelings during these activities.

To avoid making this mistake, make sure you have a common thread running through your essay and the extracurriculars provide support to the story you are trying to tell, rather than crafting a story around your activities. And, as this essay does, make sure there is lots of personal reflection and feelings weaved throughout to focus attention to you rather than your extracurriculars. 

Essay Example #4: Love of Writing

“I want to be a writer.” This had been my answer to every youthful discussion with the adults in my life about what I would do when I grew up. As early as elementary school, I remember reading my writing pieces aloud to an audience at “Author of the Month” ceremonies. Bearing this goal in mind, and hoping to gain some valuable experience, I signed up for a journalism class during my freshman year. Despite my love for writing, I initially found myself uninterested in the subject and I struggled to enjoy the class. When I thought of writing, I imagined lyrical prose, profound poetry, and thrilling plot lines. Journalism required a laconic style and orderly structure, and I found my teacher’s assignments formulaic and dull. That class shook my confidence as a writer. I was uncertain if I should continue in it for the rest of my high school career.

Despite my misgivings, I decided that I couldn’t make a final decision on whether to quit journalism until I had some experience working for a paper outside of the classroom. The following year, I applied to be a staff reporter on our school newspaper. I hoped this would help me become more self-driven and creative, rather than merely writing articles that my teacher assigned. To my surprise, my time on staff was worlds away from what I experienced in the journalism class. Although I was unaccustomed to working in a fast-paced environment and initially found it burdensome to research and complete high-quality stories in a relatively short amount of time, I also found it exciting. I enjoyed learning more about topics and events on campus that I did not know much about; some of my stories that I covered in my first semester concerned a chess tournament, a food drive, and a Spanish immersion party. I relished in the freedom I had to explore and learn, and to write more independently than I could in a classroom.

Although I enjoyed many aspects of working for the paper immediately, reporting also pushed me outside of my comfort zone. I am a shy person, and speaking with people I did not know intimidated me. During my first interview, I met with the basketball coach to prepare for a story about the team’s winning streak. As I approached his office, I felt everything from my toes to my tongue freeze into a solid block, and I could hardly get out my opening questions. Fortunately, the coach was very kind and helped me through the conversation. Encouraged, I prepared for my next interview with more confidence. After a few weeks of practice, I even started to look forward to interviewing people on campus. That first journalism class may have bored me, but even if journalism in practice was challenging, it was anything but tedious.

Over the course of that year, I grew to love writing for our school newspaper. Reporting made me aware of my surroundings, and made me want to know more about current events on campus and in the town where I grew up. By interacting with people all over campus, I came to understand the breadth of individuals and communities that make up my high school. I felt far more connected to diverse parts of my school through my work as a journalist, and I realized that journalism gave me a window into seeing beyond my own experiences. The style of news writing may be different from what I used to think “writing” meant, but I learned that I can still derive exciting plots from events that may have gone unnoticed if not for my stories. I no longer struggle to approach others, and truly enjoy getting to know people and recognizing their accomplishments through my writing. Becoming a writer may be a difficult path, but it is as rewarding as I hoped when I was young.

This essay is clearly structured in a manner that makes it flow very nicely and contributes to its success. It starts with a quote to draw in the reader and show this student’s life-long passion for writing. Then it addresses the challenges of facing new, unfamiliar territory and how this student overcame it. Finally, it concludes by reflecting on this eye-opening experience and a nod to their younger self from the introduction. Having a well-thought out and sequential structure with clear transitions makes it extremely easy for the reader to follow along and take away the main idea.

Another positive aspect of the essay is the use of strong and expressive language. Sentences like “ When I thought of writing, I imagined lyrical prose, profound poetry, and thrilling plot lines ” stand out because of the intentional use of words like “lyrical”, “profound”, and “thrilling” to convey the student’s love of writing. The author also uses an active voice to capture the readers’ attention and keep us engaged. They rely on their language and diction to reveal details to the reader, for instance saying “ I felt everything from my toes to my tongue freeze into a solid block ” to describe feeling nervous.

This essay is already very strong, so there isn’t much that needs to be changed. One thing that could take the essay from great to outstanding would be to throw in more quotes, internal dialogue, and sensory descriptors.

It would be nice to see the nerves they felt interviewing the coach by including dialogue like “ Um…I want to interview you about…uh…”.  They could have shown their original distaste for journalism by narrating the thoughts running through their head. The fast-paced environment of their newspaper could have come to life with descriptions about the clacking of keyboards and the whirl of people running around laying out articles.

Essay Example #5: Starting a Fire

Was I no longer the beloved daughter of nature, whisperer of trees? Knee-high rubber boots, camouflage, bug spray—I wore the garb and perfume of a proud wild woman, yet there I was, hunched over the pathetic pile of stubborn sticks, utterly stumped, on the verge of tears. As a child, I had considered myself a kind of rustic princess, a cradler of spiders and centipedes, who was serenaded by mourning doves and chickadees, who could glide through tick-infested meadows and emerge Lyme-free. I knew the cracks of the earth like the scars on my own rough palms. Yet here I was, ten years later, incapable of performing the most fundamental outdoor task: I could not, for the life of me, start a fire. 

Furiously I rubbed the twigs together—rubbed and rubbed until shreds of skin flaked from my fingers. No smoke. The twigs were too young, too sticky-green; I tossed them away with a shower of curses, and began tearing through the underbrush in search of a more flammable collection. My efforts were fruitless. Livid, I bit a rejected twig, determined to prove that the forest had spurned me, offering only young, wet bones that would never burn. But the wood cracked like carrots between my teeth—old, brittle, and bitter. Roaring and nursing my aching palms, I retreated to the tent, where I sulked and awaited the jeers of my family. 

Rattling their empty worm cans and reeking of fat fish, my brother and cousins swaggered into the campsite. Immediately, they noticed the minor stick massacre by the fire pit and called to me, their deep voices already sharp with contempt. 

“Where’s the fire, Princess Clara?” they taunted. “Having some trouble?” They prodded me with the ends of the chewed branches and, with a few effortless scrapes of wood on rock, sparked a red and roaring flame. My face burned long after I left the fire pit. The camp stank of salmon and shame. 

In the tent, I pondered my failure. Was I so dainty? Was I that incapable? I thought of my hands, how calloused and capable they had been, how tender and smooth they had become. It had been years since I’d kneaded mud between my fingers; instead of scaling a white pine, I’d practiced scales on my piano, my hands softening into those of a musician—fleshy and sensitive. And I’d gotten glasses, having grown horrifically nearsighted; long nights of dim lighting and thick books had done this. I couldn’t remember the last time I had lain down on a hill, barefaced, and seen the stars without having to squint. Crawling along the edge of the tent, a spider confirmed my transformation—he disgusted me, and I felt an overwhelming urge to squash him. 

Yet, I realized I hadn’t really changed—I had only shifted perspective. I still eagerly explored new worlds, but through poems and prose rather than pastures and puddles. I’d grown to prefer the boom of a bass over that of a bullfrog, learned to coax a different kind of fire from wood, having developed a burn for writing rhymes and scrawling hypotheses. 

That night, I stayed up late with my journal and wrote about the spider I had decided not to kill. I had tolerated him just barely, only shrieking when he jumped—it helped to watch him decorate the corners of the tent with his delicate webs, knowing that he couldn’t start fires, either. When the night grew cold and the embers died, my words still smoked—my hands burned from all that scrawling—and even when I fell asleep, the ideas kept sparking—I was on fire, always on fire.

This student is an excellent writer, which allows a simple story to be outstandingly compelling. The author articulates her points beautifully and creatively through her immense use of details and figurative language. Lines like “a rustic princess, a cradler of spiders and centipedes, who was serenaded by mourning doves and chickadees,” and “rubbed and rubbed until shreds of skin flaked from my fingers,” create vivid images that draw the reader in. 

The flowery and descriptive prose also contributes to the nice juxtaposition between the old Clara and the new Clara. The latter half of the essay contrasts elements of nature with music and writing to demonstrate how natural these interests are for her now. This sentence perfectly encapsulates the contrast she is trying to build: “It had been years since I’d kneaded mud between my fingers; instead of scaling a white pine, I’d practiced scales on my piano, my hands softening into those of a musician—fleshy and sensitive.”

In addition to being well-written, this essay is thematically cohesive. It begins with the simple introduction “Fire!” and ends with the following image: “When the night grew cold and the embers died, my words still smoked—my hands burned from all that scrawling—and even when I fell asleep, the ideas kept sparking—I was on fire, always on fire.” This full-circle approach leaves readers satisfied and impressed.

There is very little this essay should change, however one thing to be cautious about is having an essay that is overly-descriptive. We know from the essay that this student likes to read and write, and depending on other elements of her application, it might make total sense to have such a flowery and ornate writing style. However, your personal statement needs to reflect your voice as well as your personality. If you would never use language like this in conversation or your writing, don’t put it in your personal statement. Make sure there is a balance between eloquence and your personal voice.

Essay Example #6: Dedicating a Track

“Getting beat is one thing – it’s part of competing – but I want no part in losing.” Coach Rob Stark’s motto never fails to remind me of his encouragement on early-morning bus rides to track meets around the state. I’ve always appreciated the phrase, but an experience last June helped me understand its more profound, universal meaning.

Stark, as we affectionately call him, has coached track at my high school for 25 years. His care, dedication, and emphasis on developing good character has left an enduring impact on me and hundreds of other students. Not only did he help me discover my talent and love for running, but he also taught me the importance of commitment and discipline and to approach every endeavor with the passion and intensity that I bring to running. When I learned a neighboring high school had dedicated their track to a longtime coach, I felt that Stark deserved similar honors.

Our school district’s board of education indicated they would only dedicate our track to Stark if I could demonstrate that he was extraordinary. I took charge and mobilized my teammates to distribute petitions, reach out to alumni, and compile statistics on the many team and individual champions Stark had coached over the years. We received astounding support, collecting almost 3,000 signatures and pages of endorsements from across the community. With help from my teammates, I presented this evidence to the board.

They didn’t bite. 

Most members argued that dedicating the track was a low priority. Knowing that we had to act quickly to convince them of its importance, I called a team meeting where we drafted a rebuttal for the next board meeting. To my surprise, they chose me to deliver it. I was far from the best public speaker in the group, and I felt nervous about going before the unsympathetic board again. However, at that second meeting, I discovered that I enjoy articulating and arguing for something that I’m passionate about.

Public speaking resembles a cross country race. Walking to the starting line, you have to trust your training and quell your last minute doubts. When the gun fires, you can’t think too hard about anything; your performance has to be instinctual, natural, even relaxed. At the next board meeting, the podium was my starting line. As I walked up to it, familiar butterflies fluttered in my stomach. Instead of the track stretching out in front of me, I faced the vast audience of teachers, board members, and my teammates. I felt my adrenaline build, and reassured myself: I’ve put in the work, my argument is powerful and sound. As the board president told me to introduce myself, I heard, “runners set” in the back of my mind. She finished speaking, and Bang! The brief silence was the gunshot for me to begin. 

The next few minutes blurred together, but when the dust settled, I knew from the board members’ expressions and the audience’s thunderous approval that I had run quite a race. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough; the board voted down our proposal. I was disappointed, but proud of myself, my team, and our collaboration off the track. We stood up for a cause we believed in, and I overcame my worries about being a leader. Although I discovered that changing the status quo through an elected body can be a painstakingly difficult process and requires perseverance, I learned that I enjoy the challenges this effort offers. Last month, one of the school board members joked that I had become a “regular” – I now often show up to meetings to advocate for a variety of causes, including better environmental practices in cafeterias and safer equipment for athletes.

Just as Stark taught me, I worked passionately to achieve my goal. I may have been beaten when I appealed to the board, but I certainly didn’t lose, and that would have made Stark proud.

This essay effectively conveys this student’s compassion for others, initiative, and determination—all great qualities to exemplify in a personal statement!

Although they rely on telling us a lot of what happened up until the board meeting, the use of running a race (their passion) as a metaphor for public speaking provides a lot of insight into the fear that this student overcame to work towards something bigger than themself. Comparing a podium to the starting line, the audience to the track, and silence to the gunshot is a nice way of demonstrating this student’s passion for cross country running without making that the focus of the story.

The essay does a nice job of coming full circle at the end by explaining what the quote from the beginning meant to them after this experience. Without explicitly saying “ I now know that what Stark actually meant is…” they rely on the strength of their argument above to make it obvious to the reader what it means to get beat but not lose. 

One of the biggest areas of improvement in the intro, however, is how the essay tells us Stark’s impact rather than showing us: His care, dedication, and emphasis on developing good character has left an enduring impact on me and hundreds of other students. Not only did he help me discover my talent and love for running, but he also taught me the importance of commitment and discipline and to approach every endeavor with the passion and intensity that I bring to running.

The writer could’ve helped us feel a stronger emotional connection to Stark if they had included examples of Stark’s qualities, rather than explicitly stating them. For example, they could’ve written something like: Stark was the kind of person who would give you gas money if you told him your parents couldn’t afford to pick you up from practice. And he actually did that—several times. At track meets, alumni regularly would come talk to him and tell him how he’d changed their lives. Before Stark, I was ambivalent about running and was on the JV team, but his encouragement motivated me to run longer and harder and eventually make varsity. Because of him, I approach every endeavor with the passion and intensity that I bring to running.

Essay Example #7: Body Image and Eating Disorders

I press the “discover” button on my Instagram app, hoping to find enticing pictures to satisfy my boredom. Scrolling through, I see funny videos and mouth-watering pictures of food. However, one image stops me immediately. A fit teenage girl with a “perfect body” relaxes in a bikini on a beach. Beneath it, I see a slew of flattering comments. I shake with disapproval over the image’s unrealistic quality. However, part of me still wants to have a body like hers so that others will make similar comments to me.

I would like to resolve a silent issue that harms many teenagers and adults: negative self image and low self-esteem in a world where social media shapes how people view each other. When people see the façades others wear to create an “ideal” image, they can develop poor thought patterns rooted in negative self-talk. The constant comparisons to “perfect” others make people feel small. In this new digital age, it is hard to distinguish authentic from artificial representations.

When I was 11, I developed anorexia nervosa. Though I was already thin, I wanted to be skinny like the models that I saw on the magazine covers on the grocery store stands. Little did I know that those models probably also suffered from disorders, and that photoshop erased their flaws. I preferred being underweight to being healthy. No matter how little I ate or how thin I was, I always thought that I was too fat. I became obsessed with the number on the scale and would try to eat the least that I could without my parents urging me to take more. Fortunately, I stopped engaging in anorexic behaviors before middle school. However, my underlying mental habits did not change. The images that had provoked my disorder in the first place were still a constant presence in my life.

By age 15, I was in recovery from anorexia, but suffered from depression. While I used to only compare myself to models, the growth of social media meant I also compared myself to my friends and acquaintances. I felt left out when I saw my friends’ excitement about lake trips they had taken without me. As I scrolled past endless photos of my flawless, thin classmates with hundreds of likes and affirming comments, I felt my jealousy spiral. I wanted to be admired and loved by other people too. However, I felt that I could never be enough. I began to hate the way that I looked, and felt nothing in my life was good enough. I wanted to be called “perfect” and “body goals,” so I tried to only post at certain times of day to maximize my “likes.” When that didn’t work, I started to feel too anxious to post anything at all.  

Body image insecurities and social media comparisons affect thousands of people – men, women, children, and adults – every day. I am lucky – after a few months of my destructive social media habits, I came across a video that pointed out the illusory nature of social media; many Instagram posts only show off good things while people hide their flaws. I began going to therapy, and recovered from my depression. To address the problem of self-image and social media, we can all focus on what matters on the inside and not what is on the surface. As an effort to become healthy internally, I started a club at my school to promote clean eating and radiating beauty from within. It has helped me grow in my confidence, and today I’m not afraid to show others my struggles by sharing my experience with eating disorders. Someday, I hope to make this club a national organization to help teenagers and adults across the country. I support the idea of body positivity and embracing difference, not “perfection.” After all, how can we be ourselves if we all look the same?

This essay covers the difficult topics of eating disorders and mental health. If you’re thinking about covering similar topics in your essay, we recommend reading our post Should You Talk About Mental Health in College Essays?

The short answer is that, yes, you can talk about mental health, but it can be risky. If you do go that route, it’s important to focus on what you learned from the experience.

The strength of this essay is the student’s vulnerability, in excerpts such as this: I wanted to be admired and loved by other people too. However, I felt that I could never be enough. I began to hate the way that I looked, and felt nothing in my life was good enough. I wanted to be called “perfect” and “body goals,” so I tried to only post at certain times of day to maximize my “likes.”

The student goes on to share how they recovered from their depression through an eye-opening video and therapy sessions, and they’re now helping others find their self-worth as well. It’s great that this essay looks towards the future and shares the writer’s goals of making their club a national organization; we can see their ambition and compassion.

The main weakness of this essay is that it doesn’t focus enough on their recovery process, which is arguably the most important part. They could’ve told us more about the video they watched or the process of starting their club and the interactions they’ve had with other members. Especially when sharing such a vulnerable topic, there should be vulnerability in the recovery process too. That way, the reader can fully appreciate all that this student has overcome.

Essay Example #8: Becoming a Coach

”Advanced females ages 13 to 14 please proceed to staging with your coaches at this time.” Skittering around the room, eyes wide and pleading, I frantically explained my situation to nearby coaches. The seconds ticked away in my head; every polite refusal increased my desperation.

Despair weighed me down. I sank to my knees as a stream of competitors, coaches, and officials flowed around me. My dojang had no coach, and the tournament rules prohibited me from competing without one.

Although I wanted to remain strong, doubts began to cloud my mind. I could not help wondering: what was the point of perfecting my skills if I would never even compete? The other members of my team, who had found coaches minutes earlier, attempted to comfort me, but I barely heard their words. They couldn’t understand my despair at being left on the outside, and I never wanted them to understand.

Since my first lesson 12 years ago, the members of my dojang have become family. I have watched them grow up, finding my own happiness in theirs. Together, we have honed our kicks, blocks, and strikes. We have pushed one another to aim higher and become better martial artists. Although my dojang had searched for a reliable coach for years, we had not found one. When we attended competitions in the past, my teammates and I had always gotten lucky and found a sympathetic coach. Now, I knew this practice was unsustainable. It would devastate me to see the other members of my dojang in my situation, unable to compete and losing hope as a result. My dojang needed a coach, and I decided it was up to me to find one.

I first approached the adults in the dojang – both instructors and members’ parents. However, these attempts only reacquainted me with polite refusals. Everyone I asked told me they couldn’t devote multiple weekends per year to competitions. I soon realized that I would have become the coach myself.

At first, the inner workings of tournaments were a mystery to me. To prepare myself for success as a coach, I spent the next year as an official and took coaching classes on the side. I learned everything from motivational strategies to technical, behind-the-scenes components of Taekwondo competitions. Though I emerged with new knowledge and confidence in my capabilities, others did not share this faith.

Parents threw me disbelieving looks when they learned that their children’s coach was only a child herself. My self-confidence was my armor, deflecting their surly glances. Every armor is penetrable, however, and as the relentless barrage of doubts pounded my resilience, it began to wear down. I grew unsure of my own abilities.

Despite the attack, I refused to give up. When I saw the shining eyes of the youngest students preparing for their first competition, I knew I couldn’t let them down. To quit would be to set them up to be barred from competing like I was. The knowledge that I could solve my dojang’s longtime problem motivated me to overcome my apprehension.

Now that my dojang flourishes at competitions, the attacks on me have weakened, but not ended. I may never win the approval of every parent; at times, I am still tormented by doubts, but I find solace in the fact that members of my dojang now only worry about competing to the best of their abilities.

Now, as I arrive at a tournament with my students, I close my eyes and remember the past. I visualize the frantic search for a coach and the chaos amongst my teammates as we competed with one another to find coaches before the staging calls for our respective divisions. I open my eyes to the exact opposite scene. Lacking a coach hurt my ability to compete, but I am proud to know that no member of my dojang will have to face that problem again.

This essay begins with an in-the-moment narrative that really illustrates the chaos of looking for a coach last-minute. We feel the writer’s emotions, particularly her dejectedness, at not being able to compete. Starting an essay in media res  is a great way to capture the attention of your readers and build anticipation for what comes next.

Through this essay, we can see how gutsy and determined the student is in deciding to become a coach themselves. She shows us these characteristics through their actions, rather than explicitly telling us: To prepare myself for success as a coach, I spent the next year as an official and took coaching classes on the side.  Also, by discussing the opposition she faced and how it affected her, the student is open and vulnerable about the reality of the situation.

The essay comes full circle as the author recalls the frantic situations in seeking out a coach, but this is no longer a concern for them and their team. Overall, this essay is extremely effective in painting this student as mature, bold, and compassionate.

The biggest thing this essay needs to work on is showing not telling. Throughout the essay, the student tells us that she “emerged with new knowledge and confidence,” she “grew unsure of her own abilities,” and she “refused to give up”. What we really want to know is what this looks like.

Instead of saying she “emerged with new knowledge and confidence” she should have shared how she taught a new move to a fellow team-member without hesitation. Rather than telling us she “grew unsure of her own abilities” she should have shown what that looked like by including her internal dialogue and rhetorical questions that ran through her mind. She could have demonstrated what “refusing to give up” looks like by explaining how she kept learning coaching techniques on her own, turned to a mentor for advice, or devised a plan to win over the trust of parents. 

Essay Example #9: Eritrea

No one knows where Eritrea is.

On the first day of school, for the past nine years, I would pensively stand in front of a class, a teacher, a stranger  waiting for the inevitable question: Where are you from?

I smile politely, my dimples accentuating my ambiguous features. “Eritrea,” I answer promptly and proudly. But I  am always prepared. Before their expression can deepen into confusion, ready to ask “where is that,” I elaborate,  perhaps with a fleeting hint of exasperation, “East Africa, near Ethiopia.”

Sometimes, I single out the key-shaped hermit nation on a map, stunning teachers who have “never had a student  from there!” Grinning, I resist the urge to remark, “You didn’t even know it existed until two minutes ago!”

Eritrea is to the East of Ethiopia, its arid coastline clutches the lucrative Red Sea. Battle scars litter the ancient  streets – the colonial Italian architecture lathered with bullet holes, the mosques mangled with mortar shells.  Originally part of the world’s first Christian kingdom, Eritrea passed through the hands of colonial Italy, Britain, and  Ethiopia for over a century, until a bloody thirty year war of Independence liberated us.

But these are facts that anyone can know with a quick Google search. These are facts that I have memorised and compounded, first from my Grandmother and now from pristine books  borrowed from the library.

No historical narrative, however, can adequately capture what Eritrea is.  No one knows the aroma of bushels of potatoes, tomatoes, and garlic – still covered in dirt – that leads you to the open-air market. No one knows the poignant scent of spices, arranged in orange piles reminiscent of compacted  dunes.  No one knows how to haggle stubborn herders for sheep and roosters for Christmas celebrations as deliberately as my mother. No one can replicate the perfect balance of spices in dorho and tsebhi as well as my grandmother,  her gnarly hands stirring the pot with ancient precision (chastising my clumsy knife work with the potatoes).  It’s impossible to learn when the injera is ready – the exact moment you have to lift the lid of the mogogo. Do it too  early (or too late) and the flatbread becomes mangled and gross. It is a sixth sense passed through matriarchal  lineages.

There are no sources that catalogue the scent of incense that wafts through the sunlit porch on St. Michael’s; no  films that can capture the luminescence of hundreds of flaming bonfires that fluoresce the sidewalks on Kudus  Yohannes, as excited children chant Ge’ez proverbs whose origin has been lost to time.  You cannot learn the familiarity of walking beneath the towering Gothic figure of the Enda Mariam Cathedral, the  crowds undulating to the ringing of the archaic bells.  I have memorized the sound of the rains hounding the metal roof during kiremti , the heat of the sun pounding  against the Toyota’s window as we sped down towards Ghinda , the opulent brilliance of the stars twinkling in a  sky untainted by light pollution, the scent of warm rolls of bani wafting through the streets at precisely 6 o’clock each day…

I fill my flimsy sketchbook with pictures from my memory. My hand remembers the shapes of the hibiscus drifting  in the wind, the outline of my grandmother (affectionately nicknamed a’abaye ) leaning over the garden, the bizarre architecture of the Fiat Tagliero .  I dice the vegetables with movements handed down from generations. My nose remembers the scent of frying garlic, the sourness of the warm tayta , the sharpness of the mit’mt’a …

This knowledge is intrinsic.  “I am Eritrean,” I repeat. “I am proud.”  Within me is an encyclopedia of history, culture, and idealism.

Eritrea is the coffee made from scratch, the spices drying in the sun, the priests and nuns. Eritrea is wise, filled with ambition, and unseen potential.  Eritrea isn’t a place, it’s an identity.

This is an exceptional essay that provides a window into this student’s culture that really makes their love for their country and heritage leap off the page. The sheer level of details and sensory descriptors this student is able to fit in this space makes the essay stand out. From the smells, to the traditions, sounds, and sights, the author encapsulates all the glory of Eritrea for the reader. 

The vivid images this student is able to create for the reader, whether it is having the tedious conversation with every teacher or cooking in their grandmother’s kitchen, transports us into the story and makes us feel like we are there in the moment with the student. This is a prime example of an essay that shows , not tells.

Besides the amazing imagery, the use of shorter paragraphs also contributes to how engaging this essay is. Employing this tactic helps break up the text to make it more readable and it isolates ideas so they stick out more than if they were enveloped in a large paragraph.

Overall, this is a really strong essay that brings to life this student’s heritage through its use of vivid imagery. This essay exemplifies what it means to show not tell in your writing, and it is a great example of how you can write an intimate personal statement without making yourself the primary focus of your essay. 

There is very little this essay should improve upon, but one thing the student might consider would be to inject more personal reflection into their response. Although we can clearly take away their deep love and passion for their homeland and culture, the essay would be a bit more personal if they included the emotions and feelings they associate with the various aspects of Eritrea. For example, the way their heart swells with pride when their grandmother praises their ability to cook a flatbread or the feeling of serenity when they hear the bells ring out from the cathedral. Including personal details as well as sensory ones would create a wonderful balance of imagery and reflection.

Essay Example #10: Journaling

Flipping past dozens of colorful entries in my journal, I arrive at the final blank sheet. I press my pen lightly to the page, barely scratching its surface to create a series of loops stringing together into sentences. Emotions spill out, and with their release, I feel lightness in my chest. The stream of thoughts slows as I reach the bottom of the page, and I gently close the cover of the worn book: another journal finished.

I add the journal to the stack of eleven books on my nightstand. Struck by the bittersweet sensation of closing a chapter of my life, I grab the notebook at the bottom of the pile to reminisce.

“I want to make a flying mushen to fly in space and your in it” – October 2008

Pulling back the cover of my first Tinkerbell-themed diary, the prompt “My Hopes and Dreams” captures my attention. Though “machine” is misspelled in my scribbled response, I see the beginnings of my past obsession with outer space. At the age of five, I tore through novels about the solar system, experimented with rockets built from plastic straws, and rented Space Shuttle films from Blockbuster to satisfy my curiosities. While I chased down answers to questions as limitless as the universe, I fell in love with learning. Eight journals later, the same relentless curiosity brought me to an airplane descending on San Francisco Bay.

“I wish I had infinite sunsets” – July 2019

I reach for the charcoal notepad near the top of the pile and open to the first page: my flight to the Stanford Pre-Collegiate Summer Institutes. While I was excited to explore bioengineering, anxiety twisted in my stomach as I imagined my destination, unsure of whether I could overcome my shyness and connect with others.

With each new conversation, the sweat on my palms became less noticeable, and I met students from 23 different countries. Many of the moments where I challenged myself socially revolved around the third story deck of the Jerry house. A strange medley of English, Arabic, and Mandarin filled the summer air as my friends and I gathered there every evening, and dialogues at sunset soon became moments of bliss. In our conversations about cultural differences, the possibility of an afterlife, and the plausibility of far-fetched conspiracy theories, I learned to voice my opinion. As I was introduced to different viewpoints, these moments challenged my understanding of the world around me. In my final entries from California, I find excitement to learn from others and increased confidence, a tool that would later allow me to impact my community.

“The beauty in a tower of cans” – June 2020

Returning my gaze to the stack of journals, I stretch to take the floral-patterned book sitting on top. I flip through, eventually finding the beginnings of the organization I created during the outbreak of COVID-19. Since then, Door-to-Door Deliveries has woven its way through my entries and into reality, allowing me to aid high-risk populations through free grocery delivery.

With the confidence I gained the summer before, I took action when seeing others in need rather than letting my shyness hold me back. I reached out to local churches and senior centers to spread word of our services and interacted with customers through our website and social media pages. To further expand our impact, we held two food drives, and I mustered the courage to ask for donations door-to-door. In a tower of canned donations, I saw the value of reaching out to help others and realized my own potential to impact the world around me.

I delicately close the journal in my hands, smiling softly as the memories reappear, one after another. Reaching under my bed, I pull out a fresh notebook and open to its first sheet. I lightly press my pen to the page, “And so begins the next chapter…”

The structuring of this essay makes it easy and enjoyable to read. The student effectively organizes their various life experiences around their tower of journals, which centers the reader and makes the different stories easy to follow. Additionally, the student engages quotes from their journals—and unique formatting of the quotes—to signal that they are moving in time and show us which memory we should follow them to.

Thematically, the student uses the idea of shyness to connect the different memories they draw out of their journals. As the student describes their experiences overcoming shyness at the Stanford Pre-Collegiate Summer Institutes and Door-to-Door Deliveries, this essay can be read as an Overcoming Obstacles essay.

At the end of this essay, readers are fully convinced that this student is dedicated (they have committed to journaling every day), thoughtful (journaling is a thoughtful process and, in the essay, the student reflects thoughtfully on the past), and motivated (they flew across the country for a summer program and started a business). These are definitely qualities admissions officers are looking for in applicants!

Although this essay is already exceptionally strong as it’s written, the first journal entry feels out of place compared to the other two entries that discuss the author’s shyness and determination. It works well for the essay to have an entry from when the student was younger to add some humor (with misspelled words) and nostalgia, but if the student had either connected the quote they chose to the idea of overcoming a fear present in the other two anecdotes or if they had picked a different quote all together related to their shyness, it would have made the entire essay feel more cohesive.

Where to Get Your Personal Statement Edited

Do you want feedback on your personal statement? After rereading your essays countless times, it can be difficult to evaluate your writing objectively. That’s why we created our free Peer Essay Review tool , where you can get a free review of your essay from another student. You can also improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays. 

If you want a college admissions expert to review your essay, advisors on CollegeVine have helped students refine their writing and submit successful applications to top schools. Find the right advisor for you to improve your chances of getting into your dream school!

Next Step: Supplemental Essays

Essay Guides for Each School

How to Write a Stellar Extracurricular Activity College Essay

4 Tips for Writing a Diversity College Essay

How to Write the “Why This College” Essay

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Essay Papers Writing Online

Tips for crafting a compelling and authentic personal essay.

Writing an essay about yourself can be a daunting task, but when done right, it can be a powerful tool to showcase who you are and what makes you unique. Whether you’re applying for college, a scholarship, or a job, a well-crafted essay can help you stand out from the crowd and leave a lasting impression on the reader.

When writing a personal essay, it’s important to strike a balance between being informative and engaging. You want to provide the reader with insight into your background, experiences, and goals, while also keeping them interested and invested in your story. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the process of writing a compelling essay about yourself, from brainstorming ideas to polishing your final draft.

Essential Tips for Crafting

When crafting a compelling essay about yourself, it is important to think about your audience and what message you want to convey. Here are some essential tips to help you create an engaging and authentic essay:

A Powerful Personal Essay

Writing a powerful personal essay is a way to express your unique voice and share your personal experiences with the world. By weaving together your thoughts, emotions, and reflections, you can create a compelling narrative that resonates with your audience. To craft a powerful personal essay, start by reflecting on your own experiences and exploring the themes that matter to you. Pay attention to the details and emotions that make your story come alive. Be honest and vulnerable in your writing, as authenticity is key to connecting with your readers. Additionally, consider the structure of your essay and how you can effectively organize your thoughts to engage your audience from beginning to end. By following these tips and staying true to your voice, you can create a powerful personal essay that leaves a lasting impact on your readers.

Choose a Unique Aspect

When writing an essay about yourself, it’s important to focus on a unique aspect of your personality or experiences that sets you apart from others. This could be a specific skill, talent, or life experience that has had a significant impact on your life. By choosing a unique aspect to highlight, you can make your essay more compelling and memorable to the reader. It’s important to showcase what makes you different and showcase your individuality in a way that will capture the reader’s attention.

of Your Personality

When writing about your personality, it’s important to showcase your unique traits and qualities. Describe what sets you apart from others, whether it’s your creativity, resilience, sense of humor, or compassion. Use specific examples and anecdotes to illustrate these characteristics and provide insight into who you are as a person.

Highlight your strengths and acknowledge your weaknesses – this shows self-awareness and honesty. Discuss how your personality has evolved over time and mention any experiences that have had a significant impact on shaping who you are today. Remember to be authentic and genuine in your portrayal of yourself as this will make your essay more compelling and engaging to the reader.

Reflect Deeply on

When writing an essay about yourself, it is crucial to take the time to reflect deeply on your life experiences, values, beliefs, and goals. Consider the events that have shaped you into the person you are today, both positive and negative. Think about your strengths and weaknesses, your passions and interests, and how they have influenced your decisions and actions. Reflecting on your personal journey will help you uncover meaningful insights that can make your essay more compelling and authentic.

Your Life Experiences

When it comes to writing an essay about yourself, one of the most compelling aspects to focus on is your life experiences. These experiences shape who you are and provide unique insights into your character. Reflect on significant moments, challenges you’ve overcome, or memorable events that have had a lasting impact on your life.

• Consider discussing pivotal moments that have influenced your beliefs and values.
• Share personal anecdotes that highlight your strengths and resilience.
• Explore how your life experiences have shaped your goals, aspirations, and ambitions.

By sharing your life experiences in your essay, you can showcase your individuality and demonstrate what sets you apart from others. Be genuine, reflective, and honest in recounting the events that have shaped your journey and contributed to the person you are today.

Create a Compelling

When crafting an essay about yourself, it is essential to create a compelling narrative that captures the attention of the reader from the very beginning. Start by brainstorming unique and engaging personal experiences or qualities that you want to highlight in your essay. Consider including vivid anecdotes, insightful reflections, and impactful moments that showcase your character and achievements. Remember to be authentic and sincere in your writing, as this will resonate with your audience and make your essay more relatable. By creating a compelling narrative, you can effectively communicate your story and leave a lasting impression on the reader.

Narrative Structure

The narrative structure is crucial when writing an essay about yourself. It helps to create a compelling and engaging story that showcases your unique qualities and experiences. Start by introducing the main theme or message you want to convey in your essay. Then, build a coherent storyline that highlights significant events or moments in your life. Use descriptive language and vivid details to bring your story to life and make it more relatable to the readers. Include a clear beginning, middle, and end to ensure that your essay follows a logical progression and captivates the audience throughout.

Emphasize the lessons you’ve learned from your experiences and how they have shaped your character and outlook on life. Connect these insights to your personal growth and development, demonstrating your resilience, determination, and self-awareness. End your essay on a reflective note, highlighting the impact of your journey on who you are today and what you aspire to achieve in the future. By following a strong narrative structure, you can craft a captivating essay that showcases your authenticity and leaves a lasting impression on the readers.

Highlight Your

When writing an essay about yourself, it is essential to highlight your unique qualities and experiences that set you apart from others. Consider including personal anecdotes, achievements, strengths, and challenges that have shaped your identity. Focus on showcasing your authenticity and individuality to make your essay compelling and engaging.

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5 Prayers to Pray for Yourself Every Day

• Whitney Hopler Crosswalk.com Contributing Writer
• Updated Aug 13, 2024

Prayer is a powerful practice. It’s your direct line of communication with God,  where you can express your deepest thoughts and  feelings to  your caring Heavenly Father . While it’s important to pray daily for others – your family, friends, community, and world – praying for yourself is equally important. You can only care for others  well if your own  needs  are met  well. Praying for yourself is vital to access what you need each day. Praying for yourself is not an act of selfishness but an act of faith that shows God you’re relying on him to provide all you need. Here are five prayers to pray for yourself every day.

As you read these prayers,  keep in mind  that the Bible encourages you to bring your  personal  requests and concerns before God. Philippians 4:6-7 encourages you to  pray about everything in your life : “ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and  your  minds in Christ Jesus. ” Jesus often prayed for strength and guidance in his moments of human need, and he included personal prayer in the Lord’s Prayer – the example of prayer Jesus gave as a model to follow. Part of the Lord’s Prayer – in both Matthew 6:11 and Luke 11:3 – relates to praying for your daily needs, as Jesus teaches you to ask God to give you daily bread.

1. Prayer for Protection

Dear God, thank you for being my refuge and fortress, my God in whom I trust, as Psalm 91:2 says. I ask for your protection over my life today. Please shield me from harm and danger. Guard my heart and mind from fear and anxiety, and fill me with your peace that surpasses all understanding. I pray for protection over my soul, my body,  my home , and my loved ones. Keep us safe from accidents, illness, and any evil that may come our way. Please help me to walk in your  ways,  and  recognize and respond to the spiritual battles around me . Equip me with the  full   armor of God that Ephesians chapter 6 describes so I can stand  strong  against evil. In times of trouble, remind me of your promise in Psalm  121:7-8: “The Lord will keep you from all harm – He will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and  forevermore . ”

Please send your holy angels to surround me and my loved ones, providing a hedge of protection against all threats. Fill me with confidence in your sovereignty and love, knowing that you are in control and nothing can separate me from your love. Father, I pray for protection over my mind and spirit. Guard me against negative thoughts, doubts, and fears that seek to undermine my faith. Help me to take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ, as you call me to do in 2 Corinthians 10:5 . Please help me  notice your constant presence with me , and let that give me confidence in all situations. Thank you for your constant vigilance and care. I trust in your unfailing protection and provision, knowing  that you  are always with me. Thank you, my powerful God. Amen.

2. Prayer for Guidance

Dear God, I need your divine guidance to make the best decisions today and every day. Your Word says in James 1:5   that if anyone lacks wisdom, they should ask you, and you will give  it generously to all. Thank you, God, and please give me  the discernment I need  to  make choices that reflect your wisdom .  Help  me to trust in your good plans for my life, even when I don’t understand the path you have set before me.  Let your Holy Spirit lead me  to your truth in all situations, and help me apply that wisdom in any circumstances I face. In moments of uncertainty, please remind me that  your ways are higher than my ways, and your thoughts  are higher than my thoughts, as Isaiah 55:9 says. Guide my steps and help me not to  lean on my  own  understanding, but in all my ways acknowledge  you, so that you will make my paths straight, as Proverbs 3:5-6 promises.

God, please give me clarity in every situation I encounter. Open  my eyes to see the opportunities you place before me  and  give me the courage to walk through the doors you open.  Help me  to  recognize when you are speaking to me – whether through your Word,  through prayer , or  through  the counsel of  other faithful believers.   Give  me the patience to wait for your timing and the faith to trust in your plan.  Father, I also pray for the strength to follow through on  the guidance you give me .  When my path is  difficult  and challenging ,  give  me the perseverance to stay true to the direction  in which  you’re leading me to go.  Help  me to  stay  rooted in your wisdom daily. Let my decisions  be a reflection of  my faith in you, and may they bring glory to your name.  I trust that  I can always count on you to lead me according to your perfect will. Thank you, my wise God. Amen.

Photo credit:  ©Pexels/Tobi

3. Prayer for Strength

Dear God, there are times when I feel weak and weary. In those moments, I ask for your strength to face whatever comes my way. You remind me in Isaiah 41:10 that I should not fear because you are with me; you will strengthen and help me. Please fill me with your power and presence so I can stand firm in faith and not  be shaken  by the trials of life.  Help  me to rely on your strength rather than my own and to find courage in knowing that you are always by my side. In Joshua 1:9 , you command me to be strong and courageous because you will be with me wherever I go. Let this promise give me the confidence to face each day with boldness. God, I pray for strength to overcome the challenges I’ll face today –  whether they are  physical obstacles, emotional struggles, or spiritual battles.

Please  give me the strength I need in hard times .  Help  me to find rest and renewal in your presence, drawing from your infinite reservoir of strength. In times of distress and sorrow, comfort me with your peace. When I’m anxious, please calm my heart and mind. Help me to cast all my cares upon you, knowing that you care for me ( 1 Peter 5:7 ). Teach me to lean on you, to trust in your promises, and to find encouragement in your love.  I trust in your rock-solid strength to sustain me  in every situation. Thank you, my mighty God. Amen.

4. Prayer for Inspiration

Dear God, I want to experience inspiration from you today and every day of my life.  You are the Creator of all things, and  in your creation,  I can learn more about you.  As I spend time in nature,  open  my eyes to see  what nature has to teach me about you . While I work today, inspire my thoughts and give me creative ideas.  Help  me to see the potential in every situation and to embrace opportunities for growth and improvement.  Guide  me in using my talents and abilities to  their fullest. Father, please draw me closer to you through every spiritual practice I do today. Let the stories and teachings I read in the Bible come alive in my heart, guiding me and inspiring me to live according to your will.

Help me see a fresh perspective whenever I communicate with you in prayer and meditation. No matter what I’m doing today, please  show me the wonder of your work around me . Let the sunrise inspire me with the promise of a new day, and the sunset remind me of your faithfulness.  Help me  to  notice and appreciate everything  wonderful  that directs my attention to you – from a blooming flower to  the laughter of a child – and to  find inspiration in those moments.  Inspire me to live today and every day with purpose and passion. Thank you, my awesome God. Amen.

5. Prayer for Purpose

Dear God, I seek your purpose for my life. You tell me in Jeremiah 29:11 that you know the plans  you have  for me, plans to prosper me and not to harm me, plans to give me hope and a future.  I trust that you have a unique plan and purpose for my life. Please help me  discover and fulfill your purpose for me . Open doors of opportunity and close those  that are  not in line with your will.  Give  me the courage to step out in faith and the wisdom to follow where you lead me.  Help  me to use the gifts and talents you have given me to serve others as you lead me to do so. May my life be a testament to your love.  God,  when I’m struggling with doubt,  remind  me of your promise in Romans 8:28 that you work for the good of those who love you and have been called according to your purpose.

Father, please align my desires with your will. Help  me to see the bigger picture and to understand how my life fits into your divine plan.  Give  me the patience to wait  on  your timing and the faith to trust  in  your provision.  Thank you, my caring God. Amen.

Daily prayer is vital to strengthening your relationship with God. It’s not selfish to pray for yourself. It’s important  to do so  in order to  keep growing spiritually. The more you do so, the more you’ll experience the wonder of God’s work in your life as God empowers you to live each day well. So, make it a priority  every single day  to pray for yourself – and enjoy communicating with your loving Heavenly Father!

Caregiver Burnout: Tips for Taking Care of Yourself

Aug 13, 2024

When you’re not tending to your own needs, caregiving can quickly become overwhelming. Here’s how to do both.

Caregiving is, in many cases, a labor of love — but it’s still labor. And it’s the kind you can’t keep up around-the-clock if you’re not taking care of yourself, too.

That’s the dilemma facing an increasing number of adults, whose caregiving responsibilities on top of the demands of their daily lives are leaving them strained physically, emotionally and financially, whether they’re caring for a child with a long-term illness or an aging parent,

Not only did the number of Americans caring for another adult or a child with special needs jump to 53 million in 2020, up by 9.5 million from 2015, but it’s expected to keep growing as the country’s population lives longer and with more chronic illnesses.

While 51 percent of caregivers describe their work as rewarding and say it gives them a sense of purpose, the number who described their own health as very good or excellent dropped to just 41 percent. Even more telling is that about one-fourth of caregivers found it difficult to care for their own health, with a similar number reporting that the added responsibilities caused their health to deteriorate.

The continuous demands of taking care of someone else can strain even the most resilient people. Because they have so much on their plates, caregivers are less likely to prioritize their own preventative healthcare — scheduling regular checkups and getting screened for cancer and other diseases, for example.

Signs and Symptoms of Caregiver Burnout

The toll of neglecting their own health and well-being to care for others may not be obvious until it reaches a crisis level, when caregivers get burned out. When that happens, they often become unable to care for their loved ones or themselves.

Signs to watch out for, according to the National Institute on Aging, include:

• Feeling exhausted or overwhelmed
• Feeling increasingly irritable and easily getting angry or impatient
• Feeling lonely
• Having trouble sleeping
• Experiencing frequent headaches or other pains
• Skipping showers or personal care routines such as brushing teeth
• Abusing alcohol or drugs, including prescription medications

Alzheimer’s Caregiving

Simply watching a loved one struggle with severe illness or a progressively worsening condition such as Alzheimer’s disease is hard. Adding in the responsibility for that person’s well-being makes it even tougher, especially when it’s a parent or someone else you’ve viewed as an authority figure.

You may become frustrated that they can no longer do for themselves the things they once taught you how to do, such as dressing, walking or eating — and then you may feel guilty for your frustration. You may crave downtime to take care of yourself, then worry about how your loved one is doing in your absence. These feelings are normal, experts say, and learning to cope with them and take care of yourself will benefit both you and the person you’re caring for in the long term. Planning ahead and establishing routines when you step into a caregiver role is crucial to avoiding burnout later.

Self-Care for Caregivers

Taking time for yourself can make you a better caregiver for your loved ones. It also safeguards your own physical and mental health . Try the following tips:

• Acknowledge that you have a challenging role. Admitting this doesn’t mean you’re less devoted to your loved one, and it’s a first step in finding solutions.
• Don’t expect perfection. You’re human, and you will make mistakes. Learn to forgive yourself and keep going.
• Accept help from family and friends. They may be able to run errands for you, deliver a meal or pick up medication.
• Get connected. Learn about caregiver resources near you, such as support groups where you can describe your experiences and learn from others in the same situation.
• Don’t try to do it all on your own. Identify services such as transportation, meal delivery or housekeeping for caregivers. Respite care services can give you a much-needed break and may be covered by insurance.
• Make legal and financial plans. In cases of Alzheimer’s disease or other progressive dementias, making decisions early allows your loved one to participate while he or she is still able to do so, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. That can alleviate stress for everyone and head off conflicts later.
• Find out as much as you can about your loved one’s disease. Knowing what to expect can help you determine when a behavior or symptom is normal and when to seek medical help.
• Don’t isolate yourself. Plan outings with family and friends and give yourself time for hobbies and other activities that you enjoy.
• Take care of your health. Keep up with physicals, stay hydrated, make sure to get plenty of sleep and get counseling if you need it.

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Why are religious teens happier than their secular peers?

Here’s what we can learn from the way faith communities stay rooted in the real world — and diminish the harms of the virtual one..

S eth Kaplan, an author and lecturer, spent more than two decades traveling the world. He lived or worked in 75 countries before settling down in a small Orthodox Jewish community about an hour north of Washington, D.C. Although he was raised Jewish, Kaplan told me the faith wasn’t a central part of his identity while growing up. In fact, it isn’t even the reason he now lives in an Orthodox community. “I moved here for the lifestyle,” he says.

I laughed. I’ve always been resistant to the idea of living a religious life. It feels constraining, with too many rigid and seemingly arbitrary rules. The idea that someone would move to an Orthodox community for the lifestyle sounded, well, crazy. But as Kaplan explained his story in more detail, it began to make more sense — and it resonated with my research.

I’ve spent much of the last few years as the lead researcher for Jonathan Haidt’s recently published book “The Anxious Generation,” which explains how we’ve inadvertently deprived Gen Z (those born after 1995) of real-world community, independence, and free play, and replaced those things with smartphones and social media, contributing to a precipitous decline in their mental health. Kaplan isn’t part of the generation we’re most concerned about, but as sociologist Robert Putnam observed in his 2001 book “Bowling Alone,” the disintegration of communal life in the United States began in the 1960s as fewer adults attended religious services and civic engagement fell. The introduction of the smartphone and digital life has only exacerbated these existing problems: loneliness, lack of civic engagement, and the erosion of local communities.

But this disintegration of community did not happen as significantly for one subset of Americans: Religious conservatives continued attending faith services, and those adults and teens continued to engage in civic activities like volunteering and youth groups at higher rates than others. It seems that kids from conservative religious communities may have been less likely to lose their community- and free-play-based childhoods. This is the kind of childhood Kaplan wanted for his kids.

Kemp Mill, Md., where Kaplan lives, is not exclusively religious or Jewish, but its 1,200 Orthodox Jewish families (which are politically diverse) are especially focused on community building. The community is small enough for everyone to know one another but big enough to make sure all the amenities are there: schools, restaurants, supermarkets, synagogues, and community centers. “People are constantly doing things for each other: delivering groceries to the elderly, mentoring youth, joining park cleanups,” he says. “I wouldn’t call it volunteering. . . . It’s just what’s expected.”

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His three kids live near their classmates, and there’s no shortage of neighborhood-based camps and after-school activities. He says because the neighbors trust one another, the kids go freely between houses, to the parks, or to the pizza parlor without adult supervision. The children are also expected to be contributing members of the community from an early age, from babysitting to tutoring and becoming camp counselors. “Everyone has a role.”

Kaplan’s description of his kids’ lives in their religious community strongly reflected what Haidt and I found likely to help solve the nation’s youth mental health crisis: real-world community.

Kaplan believes, more than anyone I have ever met, in the power of strong, tight-knit communities to solve our personal and social ills. In fact, Kaplan has become one of the world’s leading experts on what makes some societies and communities thrive and others not. He has come to believe that many of the crises we face today — the youth mental health crisis, the loneliness epidemic, the drug overdose crisis, and political polarization — can be traced back to the deterioration of local communities.

The more I have talked with him and members of other religious communities, and the more I have dug into the research, the more I think he might be onto something.

Religion protects young people’s mental health

That today’s youths are experiencing a mental health crisis is now common knowledge. Young people are struggling with higher rates of mental illness than any previous generation on record. Concerned parents, educators, politicians, and others are desperately seeking explanations and solutions.

Teens without a religious affiliation across the political spectrum started reporting that they felt lonely, worthless, anxious, and depressed at much higher rates starting in the early 2010s. However, religious teens, especially those who report being more conservative, did not.

How did this one group of young people manage to mostly buck the trend?

At first, I thought the differences could be a result of self-reporting. Perhaps religious conservatives were as distressed as others but less likely to admit it. However, the data consistently show that this is unlikely to be the explanation. Social scientists have shown — for as long as we have been collecting data — that conservatives have better mental health than liberals, and religious people have better mental health than their secular peers. People who are religious have lower rates of depression, anxiety, drug addiction , and suicide (for both men and women ). We see this around the world: Nations where a larger percentage of people identify as religious tend to have lower suicide rates. This protective effect appears to be even stronger for those who are both conservative and religious.

Haidt and I took a look at how these trends apply to Gen Z. We used data from Monitoring the Future , a yearly survey conducted among thousands of American high school students since 1977. The survey asks students how much they agree with these statements: “I feel I do not have much to be proud of”; “Sometimes I think I am no good at all”; “I feel that I can’t do anything right”; and “I feel that my life is not very useful.”

Before 2010, teens agreed with those statements at similar rates across political and religious divides, with religious conservatives slightly less likely to agree. But after 2010, the gap between religious conservatives and everyone else grew rapidly. By 2019, it became clear that secular liberals were the most likely to agree with these self-disparaging statements.

In “ The Anxious Generation ” and our related posts on our Substack newsletter, After Babel, Haidt and I argue that much of the decline in mental health among adolescents since 2010 can be tied to the rapid transformation of childhood between 2010 and 2015. Adolescents traded their flip phones for smartphones loaded with social media apps, and their play-based childhoods became disembodied and placeless phone-based childhoods. The new phone-based childhood pushes out most of teens’ real-world play and social interaction and brings young people a variety of harms , from loneliness and anxiety to attention fragmentation and sleep deprivation. The transformation of childhood has made many kids more anxious, more depressed, and more likely to self-harm, especially adolescent girls .

So, what are religious conservative teens doing differently?

What religious communities are getting right

The secret is likely not any particular belief system itself but the way organized religion and shared beliefs bind communities together.

As Haidt describes in his 2012 book “The Righteous Mind,” conservatives typically value loyalty, authority, and sanctity, which tend to foster openness to religion and its traditions and structure. In contrast, liberals generally prioritize individual rights and freedoms, which can lead to a rejection of organized religion.

We see this in the data: The percentage of liberal teens who report that religion is important in their lives and who regularly attend religious services has dropped from 40 percent in 1979 to 14 percent in 2019. In comparison, those numbers have changed much less for conservative teens, from 50 percent in 1979 to 42 percent in 2019.

These value differences often play out in the home. I’m making some broad generalizations here, but research shows that conservative (and religious) families tend to emphasize structure and duty, providing children with clear boundaries and roles to play in the home and community. Liberal (and secular) families, however, tend to emphasize personal expression and exploration, encouraging children to discover diverse aspects of their identities. Each approach has strengths — secular liberals foster more self-expression, while religious conservatives offer more structure . Of course, either approach can go too far, leading to challenges like rigid and authoritarian parenting in conservative families or boundary-less parenting in liberal families.

These dynamics can play out with technology, too. Liberal and secular parents tend to be less restrictive about technology use than conservative and religious parents, and liberal and secular teens report spending more time on social media. At the same time, conservative teens report spending more time engaging in their local community — attending religious services, working, spending more time with trusted adults, and spending more time with their friends in person.

The difference in how teens spend their time matters. Experts have extensively documented the mental health and social benefits of strong real-world communities and the unique contribution of religion in binding such communities together (partly due to the collective rituals that are key components of religious life). As Kaplan explained to me, based on his own research, real-world communities help foster social trust, social capital, and social support. Any developmental psychology textbook will tell you that healthy child development requires these features.

Although most of us understand that community is beneficial, many have not experienced the kinds of tight-knit local communities that Kaplan describes. We often mistake social networks for communities. As he noted in an email to me, “An understanding of what community is has been lost to . . . people who have never experienced it. . . . Until very recently, human communities were always rooted in specific places — places imbued with meaning, places with history and a shared identity . Such communities may have constrained their members in various ways — limiting, as [author Alan] Ehrenhalt writes in ‘The Lost City,’ ‘privacy, individuality, and choice’ — but they provided ‘some anchors of stability to help us through times of . . . unsettling change.’”

Tight-knit communities provide a stable network of peers and adults (not just parents!) whom children can trust, collaborate with, and learn skills from. They also offer connections with supportive, trusted adults who act as guardians and mentors and can help a child through hard times during adolescence. The community features that help children thrive are much more difficult to build into the virtual world.

This can help us understand — beyond differences in parenting — why most secular teens across the political spectrum raced into the virtual world more quickly and stayed online longer than their religious conservative peers: They were searching for a community many felt was missing from their lives. Religious conservative teens, on the other hand, were more likely to be rooted in their real-world communities and less likely to move their lives so deeply into the virtual world, and thus less likely to have been harmed by a phone-based childhood.

This is the key point: Virtual networks are not sufficient replacements for real-world communities.

What about kids who don’t have a real-world community?

One common objection to the claim that real-world communities are better than virtual networks is that social media platforms offer marginalized youth many social benefits — they can find the like-minded peers they don’t have in their real-world communities.

Of course, that’s a good thing. This is a major advantage of the internet and, sometimes, of social media, too. However, kids from marginalized groups are also far more likely to experience the risks of the phone-based childhood — from cyberbullying and predation from peers and strangers to being fed self-harm content by the platforms’ algorithms. Until some guardrails are put in place, I worry that this solution may, at times, be worse than the problem it is trying to solve. These online networks are often unstable, transient, and full of unknown people — and they are embedded within platforms designed to fuel outrage and keep their users online much longer than they intend. Giving our most vulnerable teens unfettered access to an unregulated world with no guardrails or support does not outweigh the meager social benefits. We can do better than this.

When Kaplan told me he moved into an Orthodox Jewish community “for the lifestyle,” he helped me see that there is more to religious life than faith itself. He showed me that even if we’re lucky enough not to suffer from economic poverty, we often suffer from social poverty, with frail and shallow social ties to friends, family, and the local community.

Now, I personally don’t want to live in a highly religious community, and I don’t expect to move into one “for the lifestyle.” At the same time, I want to give my kids — when I have them — the kind of community that Kaplan is able to provide his children.

This is the challenge of our time: How do we balance the desire to give kids individual freedom and new digital technologies with our desire to give them a stable, tight-knit community? It’s a difficult question to answer, though many organizations , like Outward Bound, Block Party USA, and the Girl Scouts, are creatively trying to do just this . My hope is that we can learn from the communities that have done this best and work together to end phone-based childhood, restore play-based childhood, and give all kids more deeply rooted, tight-knit, and loving communities in the real world.

Zach Rausch is an associate research scientist at New York University, the lead researcher for the book “The Anxious Generation,” and managing editor of the Substack newsletter After Babel.