Personal
reputations develop over time and are based on how we choose to act in certain
aspects of our lives. A reputation is formed by people judging your actions and
analyzing your social and educational progress. Some people feel strongly that
is important to have a good reputation. As a result, they work harder to be
successful and monitor how they act and converse with others. The description of
this week’s post touches on how people have many domains, and a person’s reputation
differs within each.
Throughout
my life, I have felt that it was important to have a good reputation with
members of my family, particularly my immediate family. I always wanted to make
sure my parents were proud of me and that I was the type of person that my
younger siblings could look up to. When I was younger, my reputation was mainly
focused around how nice I was to my siblings and other peers. Truthfully, I was
on a bit of a short leash when I was younger. I was very nice with other
children but I was always giving my siblings the business, whether that was
fighting with them or poking fun at them. At a certain point, I found myself
losing privileges or getting grounded when “being mean” to my younger siblings.
As I got older, I matured and began to build better relationships with my
brother and sister. I also began to feel the pressure to do well in school. As
the years went on the classes got more difficult, I showed my parents I was an
intelligent and driven individual by getting good grades. I continued this work
into high school to make sure I kept my reputation as a good student intact. In
addition to getting good grades, I made sure to stay out of trouble in high
school. I never had a detention, made sure to never ditched classes, and tried
to stay away from the party scene so I wouldn't have any run ins with the law.
I asked I would help my parents with little errands, such as going to the
grocery store or carting my brother or sister to or from school, sports, and friends’
houses. As a result, my parents had a lot of respect for me and trusted I would
make smart choices. This came with certain benefits, like getting to stay out
later or getting reimbursed for running errands.
Today, I
still feel that my reputation within the family is important and continue to
work hard to be successful. I make sure that I keep in contact with them,
giving everyone a call or text to see how the week, work, or school is going.
Now I’m not
a perfect child. There were plenty of times that I liked to stray away from
suggested behavior. It is a bit difficult to think of specific examples now,
however, it could involve getting into one of the many arguments with my
parents or siblings and/or attending an event I didn't have permission to go
to. I never thought about “cashing it in,” because I never felt the need or
want to. I knew that abandoning my reputation would not pay out in the long
run. The actions that I chose over the years helped solidified a good
reputation with my family, and set me up for all of my accomplishments.
