I have never loved when people summed me up by single personality traits. I had a friend recently say, “of course your favorite color is orange, all my friends with that favorite color are exactly the same”. I cannot explain clearly why that frustrated me so much or made me want to prove how wrong it was. I don’t like being summed up by my likes or dislikes, but then what do I like to be summed up as?

I am a virgo, but I hate astrology and think that it is annoying. I graduated from college with a history degree, which means absolutely nothing if you talk to anyone with a degree in hard sciences. I grew up in Santa Cruz, CA but I am far from rich or financially stable. I never surfed because I hated the people who did ritually. I was far from an athlete and failed at every team sport because I was always more of an independent thinker. I played tennis because I liked it, I ran 10k’s because I enjoyed the accomplishment of it.

But who am I? Who are any of us? Are we all just culminations of our likes and dislikes, our fears and dreams, and our experiences? Or is there truly a soul in each person that dictates who we are and the other things that happen to us are just obstacles or events that further prove ourselves? I don’t know anymore. I know that my mental illnesses shape how I think, along with my twenty years of religious school experience and teachings. I have very strong morals and I believe in the power in understanding those around you. I don’t steal, I don’t cheat, I don’t hurt people. Maybe those are privileges awarded to me for growing up in a stable home by the sea with people around me who loved and supported me. Maybe it was all going to happen anyway.

I don’t know anymore. I just know that I am not defined by being a virgo or having a favorite color; we are all more than our star signs.