Reminiscing on how I have become who I am today, the people that influence me, and on what conditions? What caused it to happen without my awareness.
REMINISCING
I noticed I wear Kaftan a lot, if I enter a boutique and I see Kaftan paired with other dresses trust me I will be going for the Kaftan (African attire) not knowing why I become so obsessed. So I sat down recently after rearranging my closet, and see that most of my clothes are Kaftan's, I barely see any casual T-Shirt or Tuxedos. So I started thinking hard about if anything is wrong with the idea (not really) and where the urge came from that made me purchase most of the African attire clothes I have in my wardrobe, that's what birthed this article.
It hit me that anyone or thing you spend much of your time with and pay attention to will rub off on you without knowing, they'll have a blueprint for you. This effect doesn't have one side so it can be a good or bad imprint that is left on you. If you look at your character, let's call it a persona, you're not exactly the same person you are three years ago. You have either become wise or silly, quiet or extravert, ambitious or indolent. This trait rubs off. You didn't just pick these behaviours out of nowhere, either someone has passed through your life and has this trait deposited on you. Sometimes it is picked from objects too, like books and people you overly adored and look up to all the time.
So there's this my personal saying, it's a reverse of Alexandra the great quote which says: "if a lion lives among five sheep for long, it becomes the sixth sheep". And now that the world is now overly digital, like Marc Andreessen said: "software is eating the world". You have to be careful about who you follow in the digital space before it consumes you, trust me it will if you don't watch out without you ever knowing. Stray away from people or objects you know can bench your thought before you find yourself becoming the person you advocated against.
RUMINATING
I did sit down and ruminate on my own life from a different view and it all started with being more aware of my living, asking some random meaningless question like; Who have I become? What am I? Am I this body? Or is this body me? I am this person? (Don't shake your head) I know it is weird but trust me I ask myself this question often and it helps if you do too.
WHAT I DISCOVERED AND KNOW CAUSED IT
It emerges that my previous boss wears lots of Kaftan and I admire him for it, we also happen to spend lots of time together because of my creative skills, he always tells me that he kept me around so I can spurn his ideas around in a creative way. I have always wanted the majority of my clothes to be Kaftan looking at it, but I bet seeing him live that life is what influences me now that I am thinking about it. Another example; is a friend of mine who is a fitness enthusiast, I always hype him for his physique at the time, maybe because I see ladies rush all over him well it is true, but that's not the reason. I just admire him for just that physique and not long after I started craving to start lifting weights too. Oh, and I did.
CONCLUSION
I can attribute everything that contributed to who I have become today better to one particular individual at a point in my life. I did catch some bad behaviour from people too, which is often hard to churn, but I have been able to discard it with the help of other people I am meeting now glory-glory. Watch out for who you invited into your life, they're not just sitting around. They're influencing you in a positive or negative way and it has nothing to do with that person's character they might not even know about it. Awareness is also vital, try to notice and evaluate yourself regularly.
People are the environment, and it is what influences your life. Everyone you meet contributes a thing or two to who you will become, so choose wisely. And always keep auditing, but be kind.