What is it really that makes something in, out, fashionable, acceptable or unacceptable?
Think of an advertisement for a store you like. Now think specifically of the model or representative shown. How are they holding themselves? Confidently, or hunched over trying to avoid being looked at? Of course they are going to be poised, confident. They look secure. Security is one of the feelings we all want. Even a small hug helps us feel better, reassured, and in control again.
Our eyes are constantly moving from one place to another, one store or advertisement to another, or someone’s confidence over someone’s lack of confidence. Everywhere we look we see pictures of others, portraying some type of item for sale. We’re drawn in by something, by the other’s confidence. They just seem to do everything so… perfectly.
This is how trends start. One confident person decides to try something new, someone else sees and is attracted to their confidence, and so begins the cycle. More and more people see, making more and more people want. People begin to recreate whatever the person was wearing, or how they were behaving.
Fitting in is something everyone wants. To fit in with a group is like a second home. Everything you do determines how you fit, from what you say to the way you think, the filler words you use when you stall as you talk, or even just the language (or languages) you speak. Everyone has a group, a squad, a mini-family that you immediately go to. Constantly, cliques rise to the top and become the group that supposedly everyone wants to be in. Why? Society has brought us up thinking this is the best way. In elementary it was either bully, be bullied, or stand on the sides and watch. In high school, it’s either the people who are in, the people who are out, or the people who aren’t seen. But what is it really that makes you in or out? Is it what you think about yourself or what others think about you? You have the choice, so decide. Are you going to be content with you, or constantly try to be something that you aren’t?
