Influence

The idea that I could be influencing many people in this moment, while I’m just in my room typing this, is so weird. In our daily life it is something that we don’t really consciously think about. Even though everything we do, like literally everything, can have some type of influence on another person’s decisions. Every single step you take, every decision you make, what you’re wearing, what you say, everything, can influence each other.

It can be a pair of shoes that reminds a guy in London of his mother who lives in France, and makes him text her, so she gets interrupted while reading a book, and after answering him, she starts scrolling through Facebook. She sees a funny video and shares it with her 284 friends. Because of that, a good friend of her that moved to Canada two years ago, sees the video on her work. She starts laughing out loud, and a few of her colleagues get distracted and come and watch the video too. This cycle of interconnectedness can continue for ages. It is infinite, uncontrollable.

It is so bizarre to realize that really anything can influence anyone in the world. It can sound a bit far-fetched, but that’s just how it is. It ultimately determines who we are and how we think: the people in our surroundings, the commercials we see, the subjects people talk about, the things people find normal, the books we read, the countries and cultures we see. All of this shapes who you are as a person now, and who you will be in the future. Because of this we change, we grow up or stay young, our entire life view is assembled by our surroundings.