Class: FHS 400

Name: Ashley Allen

Assignment: Final Project

I was born in Pocatello, Idaho, on December 15, 1985. I am the fourth of seven siblings
(3 boys and 4 girls). We grew up in a small town called Aberdeen, Idaho, which is about 40 min-
utes away from Pocatello. My dad is a farmer and grows wheat, sugar beets, and potatoes- of
coarse! I grew up in this small town of 1500 people my whole life until early adulthood. I loved
growing up on a farm because of all the space there is to roam and play. I realize more now as
adult how wonderful a BIG backyard can be. We learned to work at a young age. At the time we
did not always enjoy it but now looking back, My greatest memories stem from hoeing beets and
working in harvest with my siblings. My school was small, altogether there was 75 in my class
but by the time we graduated there was only a total of 43 graduates. I played sports my whole
life and enjoyed being active, It was so much easier to run an entire basketball game then! I was
motivated academically and always found joy in getting good grades. As an adult I realize now
how easy life really was, growing up without any real responsibilities that would come all too
soon. As a young kid you cant wait to grow up but as an adult I nd myself reminiscing how
care free life was.
Physical Development
As a young girl, I loved playing sports. I still remember feeling my lungs burn from running con-
tinually in sports and not wanting to stop until we won. Now I am winded from going up the
stairs! I was athletic and a lot of it was due to my height. I shot up in 8th grade and was taller
than all my friends and the boys! This did not help me to feel good about myself, I hated how my
body looked because I was so much taller than everyone and this created a bad Body
Image(Berger, 2014, pg. 328) for me in my mind. Plus, boys can be cruel with their jokes or at-
tempts to irt in high school. This was very damaging to my self concept all the way through
high school. But as I grew into my body and got out of high school I feel like my perception of
how I looked changed immensely. I slowly gained more condence in my self as I was in a new
more positive, mature atmosphere at college.
I am amazed how fast your body changes physically as you age, but on the inside you
still feel like you are in your early twenties. Being so physically active has been a positive and
negative experience in my life. When I was in high school I tore my ACL and MCL on my 16th
birthday. I thought it was awful pain and I have had more surgeries and continual pain since that
one accident. The other major event that has shaped my physical development is having kids. I
dont know anything that is harder on your body than having multiple kids. It is the best and the
worst feeling anyone can have. But it so much harder to get back in shape now than it was
when I was a teenager. That also has to with the fact that as I age, I need to be eating less and
move more each year ( Berger, 2014, pg. 438) or I will be having a problem caused by
Overeating. I at this stage with 3 energetic kids I am eating quick foods and never sitting down.
Unlike before when my exercise came from sports activities, now it comes chasing kids and
jumping on the tramp. I guess that is why I am able to maintain my weight, but when things slow
down in the future I am going to have to focus more on hitting the gym. Even though recovery
after having a baby is amazing and somewhat quick, it takes a lot longer now than it used to-
even a couple years ago.
COGNITIVE
I have always enjoyed learning from school classes and experiences but nothing has helped me
grow more than having 3 kids. When you sit and look at these little humans, you can just feel
the huge responsibility it is to raise them and the uncontrollable feelings to protect and provide
for them. Cognitively speaking I feel like raising my kids has challenged me to up my thinking
and functioning abilities. I am in charge of three kids on a 24/7 schedule, who have completely
different personalities which means they need different kinds of discipline, attention and love.
Because some are harder than others I feel like every day is another lesson of patience and
how to try and do it better the next day. My mom always jokes that we lose brain cells every
time we have kids- and I have felt that too. However, I know that having to always be on top of
your game taking care of each of these kids requires you to learn, research, pray, and continual-
ly expand your mind to provide the best care for them.
SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL
As we know, our minds develop at different times in our lives. Depending on age, gen-
der, SES status, genetics and environment. There are too many events that have shaped me
emotionally and socially, but I dont think your life ever stops being shaped by what is going on
around you. The point of this life is continual learning and growth. At young age I struggled with
comparisons and trying to nd out who I am like many others but after reading this book I
found a specic name for what I struggled with- Stereotype threat, which is the anxiety-produc-
ing idea that other people are judging you in stereotyped ways (Berger, 2014, pg. 342).I did not
feel people judged me by things such as being white or female but more for people assuming
we were rich (because my dad had a farm, and a lot of my friends parents worked for him) my
religion, and everything I said felt like I had said the wrong thing. I constantly worried about
what other peoples opinions were of me. I rst thought it to be some form of paranoia but now I
know the exact term. Constantly thinking that others are thinking things about me has really
caused a lot of emotional and social challenges for me. It was hard to focus or relax because
my mind would never stop worrying about what people are thinking, when in reality, they most
likely are not thinking anything about me. As an adult it is still a real problem but I am slowly
teaching myself how to deal with it- instead of living with a high level of anxiety I have to remind
myself that no one is thinking about me and if they are-It does not matter. I think the best thing
that has happened to me is marrying my husband. Mark keeps me grounded and always
makes feel like the most important person to him. Our road to where we are now has been full
of some ups and downs that we had to work out just between the two of us and it has shaped
and strengthened our relationship to where it is today. I feel like there is obviously still a lot more
to learn but since I have being married I have been able to consider the goals and values of
my parents and culture, accepting some and discarding others in discerning my own identity, I
am more condent in the achievement of my Identity (Berger, 2014, pg 356).


References: Bandura, Albert, Berger, Kathleen. Invitation to The Life Span.
Second edition. (pg. 328, 342, 356, 438).