Erik Erikson's Theory of Psychosocial Development

Taylor Williams

6/18/2021

Personal Assessment

Being a black, middle-aged, African American woman in the United States of America, I have witnessed and experienced many hardships and successes throughout my years, as well as being a witness to my friends and family. Seeing certain peers and family members live in poverty and witnessing the struggles they faced time and time again truly makes me appreciate growing up the way in which I did. Being born on the Northwest side of Atlanta and then growing up on the Southside, I remember as a child saying, “we now own the damaged goods.” There was an obvious contrast in the jobs, restaurants, and fast-food options, but especially noticeable were the neighborhoods and types of cars you would see driving in the streets and/or parked in driveways. Although I did not partake in theft, drugs, gangs, and violence, these were and still are a main part of the culture I grew up in and grew to know.

During my adolescent and teenage years, unfortunately, I did not see out of the lens I maturely see out of now as I look back upon my life’s journey. While the appreciation and understanding came about the older I became, the low-end middle-class lifestyle my mother raised me and my younger sister in was truly not as bad as it seemed or could have been. My parents separated when I was a young girl, so my mother played both the mother and father figure role for me and my sister while my stepfather was in prison. This almost seemed “normal” among my friends to have a single parent raising them, either through a divorce or never being married. Furthermore, my mother taught us how to be responsible, accountable, and enforced discipline at a very young age. Being the older sibling, I had more responsibility to set a good example and even more accountability to be a good leader for my sister; my mother would not allow it to be any other way. There was absolutely no room in our house for willful mistakes or any type of foolishness. I could see growing up a common theme among my peers and even in my community of strict or even abusive parents, family members/siblings being incarcerated, and/or even similar family values and belief systems of being responsible as a child, whether you wanted to or not. I believe having two older brothers that left the house at a young age to live their lives however they saw fit, contributed to how my mom treated her next child in line: me. Struggling to pay bills, working day in and day out, dealing with the mental and emotional stress of her son being in and out of the judicial system while her husband was already serving time, never truly having time to herself as an individual woman to simply do nothing for a day, lead my mother to wanting to protect her oldest daughter from certain situations she went through and was going through at that time I believe. She might not have expressed her worries or what was troubling her in the most desirable way, but now with more insight and understanding, I have nothing but admiration for her strength, willingness, and devotion to being supportive, faithful, and loyal to her family.

In spite of the fact that my mother was indeed stern and disciplined physically, mentally, and even emotionally by implementing a plethora of rules and principles, she has truly taught me how to be a good, core valued woman that believes in the bigger picture from the Higher Power. I grew up with many friends that went to church with their families, even though they did not necessarily practice what they preached. Being immensely goal driven, my mom’s Christian upbringing also poured into my life by her teachings, sayings, in addition to her doings, truly instilled in me what it means to have the fruit of the holy spirit. Those Christian values taught me what it means to have long-suffering, patience, self-control no matter your emotions, choosing truth above all, joy, kindness, gentleness, meekness while still communicating no matter the topic at hand, holding onto peace, and never forgetting to choose love. While still believing in the Christian faith, growing to practice more spiritual concepts like The Law of Attraction, manifestation, and meditation rather than following an Orthodox religious group has opened my mind and heart to seeing and believing in goodness in double measure. I sincerely believe with all my heart that my faith and belief in God has helped me to not have any bitterness, resentment, or judgement towards the actions of others in the events of my childhood and teenage years that I did not understand then but do now. In my opinion, leaning on a Higher Power is not really practiced as much as it should be these days in my community/culture. Many people lean on themselves or others for knowledge, understanding, and direction but unfortunately sometimes this means that the blind will lead the blind. This concept can often lead to misunderstanding and confusion, which I without judgement see present in my culture and community.

To continue, growing up in public schooling where the majority of the students were African American, I lived in a community that had many churches, YMCAs, recreation centers, and boys’ and girls’ clubs. I observed many of my classmates, friends and peers simply needing mentorship, guidance, direction, or simply something to do after school so they participated in such resources. I perceived a mass amount of parents would place their children in various programs most times, not to necessarily take advantage of the program’s benefits, but while they were still working, this was a “safe” place for their children to go after school with other children they knew. This was part of my case as well. I went to a boys and girls club called “Camp Best Friends,” and no, it was not glitter and gold or had the most respectful camp directors, but I had almost all my friends from school there with me. I looked forward to going to camp more so for my friends and meeting new people, rather than learning anything. I honestly do not remember any lessons that were taught or if we did any after school or summertime coursework, but I do remember that I had fun. For a child’s social development this idea is great, but for a child’s cognitive development there is an obvious lack in this approach.

To conclude, doing this assignment has brought back many memories but has brought up even more concerns. My culture and community need growth, clarity and better assistance with proper mental, physical and emotional health pertaining to the bigger picture of the future growth of the community, rather than what is best for right now for themselves, that may or may not pay off in the future. On one hand, the culture in my community is almost as if it is “every man for themself,” or “if you aren’t with me, you’re against me.” I see those philosophies within families as well unfortunately. On the other hand, our community will stay together closer than Siamese twins when it comes to family, or our community being affected negatively by another culture/community. For example, I have witnessed myself and from the outside looking in with my own family, friends, and peers, that right, wrong, win, lose or draw, family will be loyal and stay together no matter what. Even if the family is separated, you can see the disappointment, pain, or anger of the separation in the relationship in the spoken and unspoken communication, which in my opinion shows a want or door still being opened to rebuild the “burned bridges” if it were ever possible. Moreover, I have attended one community on the Northside of Atlanta that has after school programs that are basically like school after school, and I have seen other after school programs on the Southside of Atlanta that are like recess after school. There is a lot of contradiction in my community by our people needing help and assistance with our overall well-being, but not necessarily taking the true approaches to obtain such; we almost rather rely on ourselves before asking for help. I believe certain resources like church, YMCAs, boys and girls clubs, after school programs, recreation centers, etc. are in place to provide different levels of substance and assistance to families, but a lot of time, our people take negative advantage of these resources and then complain when they do not provide what we need in the end. All in all, through the good and bad, my culture is heading in the right direction of wanting better for themselves, their children, and their families. It may not look that way all the time, but the simple fact that this seed is embedded in our community gives us the opportunity to truly flourish when we allow it to be watered and grown. The tenacity and strength of my community and culture to withstand all of the iniquities, oppression, and indifferences has only made us stronger and want more for ourselves. When it comes to the fixation of the mind, there is no stopping us on wanting great things this world truly has to offer. With that being said, that philosophy is in DNA; that is our direction.