Jaiganesh Nagarajan - week 3 - People are Made of Pieces of Others
When you think of the people you keep yourself around, such as friends and family, you usually tend to see them just as another person that you hang around;however these people are like another version of you in a sense.
While you will always be unique to yourself, the people you surround yourself around will always have a piece of their shadow embedded into yours. Especially for those older than you, it is like you are following them in their footsteps.
Even when hanging around friends, the people you are with influence the way you act or the way you talk. The sense that whatever interests that they have is also what you will most likely have as well. For instance, comparing the people I used to hang out with before I moved vs. after I moved made me realize how much I’ve changed as a person. Some people bring out different aspects of you and the more you hang out with them, the more those aspects become a part of your main personality (in a sense).
Imagine you are a sponge and the people around you are like water. The more you are with those people the more you get parts of their personalities and habits.
In the same sense this can also be detrimental to us. Hanging around the wrong people can influence us into doing things that can harm us. It's basic knowledge but it still adds to our identity.
The good and the bad are prominent in anyone;balancing/filtering out one from the other is what truly makes us unique.
And who knows what will happen in the future. The friends we make, the people we talk to may move on and we will lose contact with them. Even if that happens, we still have a part of them embedded into our personalities. They still have had their fair share of influence upon our lives. This we will never forget.
Hey Jaiganesh! I love the way you tackle identity’s complex balance of individualism and the impact of others. I agree that the people you interact with not only influence but also reflect your identity. To describe the people around you as “another version of you in a sense” really illustrates the extent of the role others play in forming your identity, and I appreciate that you believe in the individual responsibility to filter these influences and consciously define yourself. I relate with your personal experience of seeing your growth as a person after realizing the difference between the people you hung out with. These changes form slowly but unavoidably over time, but we can choose to guide ourselves toward the type of people we want to become by building meaningful relationships. I believe that the relationships with the friends that remain are that much more special because of our tendency to change. I like how you conclude with mentioning the open-endedness of the future. The friends that may come and go and the way our identity can develop is freeing in the sense that we can define our future. Yet, you also note the underlying, significant impact the people in the past make and the fact that their influence may last longer than one’s memory of them.
ReplyDeleteHi Jaiganesh! I really like the topic you chose for your blog post, since it is something that I can relate to. I can easily think of a dozen people who have inspired and shaped me into the person I am today, including my sister, parents, and close friends. The metaphor you made about a sponge and water representing a person and their environment was really a great way to communicate your message, since it reflects how people take inspiration from their surroundings. It also shows how spending more time in certain surroundings causes people to adapt to those surroundings. One topic you may have explored further in this blog post is the differences between how much a young person and an old person are influenced by the people around them—I feel as if older people have well-established personalities that would shift very little when placed in a new situation. Regardless, I also liked the conclusion of this post because it wrapped up your thoughts well, and it also raised thought-provoking questions about the implications of our personal experiences with people.
ReplyDeleteHi Jaiganesh! The topic you chose for your blog post is very interesting. I agree that everyone is just pieces of the people around you. The metaphor you used that people are just sponges that soak up the environment around them is very affective and meaningful. I can remember where I learn things from, from my vocabulary to the way I dress there is someone I know who I learned it from. Slang like "fr" or "ong" I never used until I met my current friends, they also never taught me to use them, I just picked it up from them as we talked more and more. I know what things I can not pin point where I came from probably also came from one friend or another. I am a never ending puzzle that takes pieces from the people around me.
ReplyDeleteHi Jaiganesh! I found your blog post's topic truly engaging and relatable. It brought to mind my mom's daily reminder from my childhood, "You are who your friends are," which aligns perfectly with the thought-provoking message of your article. Your piece underscores how our choice of social circles deeply molds our identity and character. The analogy of being a sponge, absorbing the personalities and habits of those in our social circles, also resonates strongly. In the past, I've personally witnessed how my friends' interests and behaviors have shaped my own outlook and choices, which really serves as a testament to the power of social influence. Moreover, your reflection about how even when people drift out of our lives, their influence lingers within us, shaping who we become, serves as a poignant reminder of the enduring impact of relationships. Additionally, your reflection on how even when people drift out of our lives, their influence endures within us is deeply thought-provoking. Over the years, I’ve come to realize, that I am not only a result of past experiences, but of past relationships too. Every mentor or friend that I have met along the way has left an indelible mark on my character, even in the smallest of ways, ultimately molding me into the person I am today.
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