How trends are killing your individuality
As my close friend and I complain about the use of the word ‘demure’ as the most recent trend, it reminded me of how quickly things spread on social media but also how this impacts so many areas, making us more and more like each other day-to-day. Saying the same phrases, doing the same things.
In addition to vulnerability, I often find myself feeling most drawn to people who are both individual but confident in their individuality, and it’s something I find quite beautiful in our trend field society. As someone with ADHD, my biggest habit as a child was picking up random phrases, laughs or strange tics the people closest to me would often do. If you knew me at the time, this was insanely cringe. However, after being diagnosed, I noticed that I was often defaulting when I couldn’t make sense of what was going on in my mind. Almost as though I was failing a test, and I now needed to scramble quickly for the closest answer I could find but my own. But if you have ADHD or struggle with processing your thoughts, this is a reminder that you deserve more time to think and the importance of individuality.
Funnily enough, I used a picture of my twin brother and me to depict this blog post because although we were born on the same day, we are both so different and so similar in many ways. The idea that twins can be so individual reminds me of the importance of being true to myself. Society continuously pushes so much content towards us that it often makes me feel like I’m drowning. Trends are amazing; they facilitate so much change and the growth of businesses big and small, but remember, to keep our financial world afloat, trends are necessary. It’s necessary to make us feel as though we are missing out, it’s necessary to make us feel as though we need something we never knew we needed. Remember fear of missing out is just the fear of being just like everyone else. With ADHD, this can be even more amplified; our lack of dopamine makes us more privy to impulsive decisions and feelings of loneliness, but you can break away from this. I have started doing this by simply reminding myself that I’m not missing out on anything. Does this fall into MY interests? Does this fall into MY wants or needs? Look for yourself in everything and you’ll begin to understand how both grasping and using your identity helps to navigate even something as overwhelming as a trend. It also highlights the significance of thinking about what we consume, not overindulging in social media to the point that it has so much of our attention that it becomes our reality. BE PRESENT
As we watch Gen-Z become so much more accustomed to being online rather than outside; trends become slang. Hearing the same story of teens who are loud-mouthed and charming at home but struggle in day-to-day social encounters. Trends are harmless when they are just phrases, I guess, but when they become purchases, lifestyles and beliefs, they can have so much more impact that lasts outside of that trend. We can all think of that one item bought off the back of a trend now collecting dust in our wardrobe.
It then becomes harder to differentiate between ourselves and others as we begin to all think so similarly, a trend then becomes our norm. So, I end this blog post by asking you the question: Can you draw the line that separates you from society?
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