I have been connected to another person my entire life. My twin sister, Sarah and I were born exactly 2 minutes apart. Though fraternal, Sarah and I were always grouped as one. When thinking about my Capstone project, I began reflecting on who I am and how I got to where I am now. In every aspect of my life, even when we live in two different states, Sarah is a part of that who and how. I felt it was only right to wrap up my college experience in an encompassing narrative discussion of who I am as a person, being in a twin. I struggled when we were younger to accept being a ‘half of a whole’, as I felt being a twin caused constant competition, a lack of self, and a resentment towards Sarah. I always felt we were in competition, and it caused me to push her away: I wanted different friends, a different ‘vibe’ and a different life than Sarah because I had no idea who I was. However, as we got older, I realized how lucky I am to have a built-in best friend. In high school my friend group grew, and we ended up hanging out with three other sets of twins alongside our other friends. I now realize how lucky I was to grow up alongside Sarah, and how unique and special being a twin is, though at times still difficult. This talk takes you through my journey growing up as a twin and becoming myself as a twin. It is broken up into three 5-6 minute parts in chronological order of our life. There are lots of misconceptions and generalizations about twins. Through sharing anecdotes, I hope to bring awareness to this and allow people to start looking at twins more as individuals - there are so many questions and comments that twins are tired of hearing. Yes, we have a bond different than normal siblings, but no twins (identical or fraternal) are carbon copy clones of each other! This talk is also aimed to relate to everyone in general - nobody has an easy time with finding identity, and I hope sharing my story can make somebody else feel seen, whether they had internal struggles with themselves, with comparing themselves to friends or peers and more. ‘Finding yourself’ isn’t linear, and in reality, continues throughout your entire life, and that’s ok! This talk is a reflection for myself and other graduating seniors. We are facing a huge new chapter in the next coming weeks which is both exciting and scary, and we once again will have to figure out how to navigate the world and stay true to ourselves. Finally, I hope to reach other twins and relate to them, share my story in letting them know they’re not alone, and assure everybody that things do and always will work out - as a twin, a sibling, or just a person, you will always be you and no other factor can change that. I hope you enjoy my story, f you would like to reach out to me you can contact me below!

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