Bucking the Trend.

I've never really been a fan of trends.

Normal
A: Why are you doing that?
B: Because everyone else is. Duh.

Me
A: Why are you doing that?
B: Because everyone else isn't. Duh.

Back in the day, there was a lot of stuff that I refrained from doing simply because everyone else was doing it. I didn't know why, but if anyone asked I'd say that doing the same thing as everyone else made me look generic.
For example:

• Hanging out at public places 'just for the hell of it.'
• Playing musical instruments.
• Wearing jeans, hoodies, sneakers, etc.
• Styling my hair.
• Listening to some obscure band with half-decent music.

And the list goes on. This mindset of mine was probably influenced by the fact that the people doing these things were teenagers, and more specifically the types who smoke, talk and swear loudly in public places, laugh like frickin' hyenas, skip school - heck, all those undesirable qualities we see in a large portion of society today.

Sure, I'm an introvert, and I always have been. But I didn't like to mix with the so-called 'in-crowds', as in my mind, 'fitting in' would mean having to become someone who was aptly despised by everyone besides my friends, who would also be just like me. I heard somewhere that to see a person's character, you had to look at the people he surrounds himself with. And thus, I didn't follow trends, and I was never very social.

One day, I was a hit by a realization. A lot of people who do these things are actually quite nice. As it turns out, I've been unfairly stereotyping all this while.

So, I got to thinking, how do trends even come about in the first place? Because a lot of people did the same thing at the same time.

And why did a lot of people do the same thing at the same time? Well, there had to be someone who started it. And then someone else saw them doing it, and thought, "Hey, I like that," and did that too. And so on until a new trend starts.

So what I'm trying to say here is, I was pretty narrow-minded back then. I had a really cynical and negative outlook on society. And now I had come to the conclusion:

People do what they do because they want to.

I mean, really, who gets forced into wearing a pair of jeans? I wouldn't say peer pressure, because if someone decides to wear jeans, it's because they were willing to. If they didn't want to wear 'em they wouldn't. Simple as that.

And yes, I'm aware that 'fitting in' is important to many people. But in my opinion, not fitting in isn't the end of the world. You're not gonna die from not being 'popular'. Just as long as you've got friends, and people you can count on, you'll be fine.

Well, I guess that if you want to do something, it means that you think it's right, and at the same time without exactly saying that everything else is wrong. And I've always (well, at least that's what it feels like) been a firm believer in standing up for what's right. Just because the majority thinks something is good, doesn't mean that it is. Doesn't mean that it isn't neither, but you get my point. 

"Stand up for what you believe in, even if it means standing alone."  

- Andy Biersack, musician

Yeah, I just felt like putting that quote in, even if it doesn't really go with the rest of the post. I just like it so much.