A few comments:
– The essay is not a confessional – the purpose of the essay is to 1) let admissions officers know something about you that isn’t elsewhere in the application and 2) to give admissions officers a reason to want to have YOU on campus.
–The focus on the essay must always be on you.
–Instead of throwing out a bunch of ideas I suggest you take any idea you come up with and write either an outline or a draft of the essay and see how it turns out and if it meets the goal of making yourself a more attractive candidate to colleges. Almost any topic can be a good or bad essay depending on how it is written.