Have you ever wondered if your thoughts and actions are your own?
I know that probably sounds a little bit like Inception, but think about it: how many of our own ideas and actions are actually our own?
Reflect on some of the conversations you’ve had with your friends. Do you discuss your likes and dislikes or do you talk about current events? What about how you see yourself?
A huge deal of our thoughts and practices come from what we see going on around us or how we were raised — everything from our parents to the media influences us daily.
Sure, college is the time to be independent and venture into finding ourselves, but it’s hard to escape how we were raised. Maybe your family always placed the toilet paper up instead of down, so now you do the same.
You can’t think of a reason why you do it. You just do. That’s not your own thought. Someone else put that idea into your head.
It’s not a bad thing. Humans are creatures of habit and we do things that are familiar and comfortable to us. Everyone has their own little routine that they carry out.
Besides our family, the media also plays a big part in shaping how we see things and ourselves.
The media portrays ideal personalities and body types for both boys and girls. Ladies have this idea that to be considered beautiful by society that they have to be smaller than a size four. Guys believe that their height has to start with a six to find someone to love them.
There are Twitter accounts dedicated highlighting beauty in men and women, but where did their idea of beauty come from?
These posts affect people of different ages simply by stating their opinion on body image. A person's post can be morphed by the ideas of their family, friends and celebrities.
It’s a chain reaction that has an unclear start and an unending finish.
Take a step back and truly evaluate yourself.
Do you like your new outfit because your friend has a similar one or because you saw it on Tumblr? Is the way you think about love modeled after your parents? How about striving to fit an image that you see on the Internet?
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with being influenced. It’s inevitable.
It’s nearly impossible to think of a whole new concept of living. Our thoughts are mirrors of those around us.