Masking Reality
To my parents, I am the angel who works hard, gets good grades, does not drink and hardly parties.
To my teachers, I am a conservative girl who studies extra hard and has no social life whatsoever.
To my college buddies, I am a nerd who can ace any exam without even studying for it.
To my sorority sisters who are frowning, I am the crazy girl who hooks up with the hottest guy in the room at every party.
To my boys, I am the top beer-drinker who can drink twice as much as they do without getting drunk.
To my girls, I am a caring friend who is always there for them.
What's my point here? Well, according to the social interaction theory, all of us wear different masks depending on who we are faced with. We have a multitude of personalities that are undeniably diverse, and just like choosing an outfit based on the weather, we subconsciously do personality switches based on the situations that we find ourselves in! It's extremely true for me, since I can hardly imagine being just one person to everyone – how can I live life to the fullest if I do?
Breaking Up is Hard to Do
I have a friend who is in an absolutely messy situation right now. He's not just between a rock and a hard place – he has to choose between starving to death and eating sand for the rest of his life. Yes, it's that bad. Allow me to explain: he has a girlfriend of more or less a year now, and it has made his life a living hell for the past 6 months.
He's tried breaking up with him, but she would either (a) burst into tears and he'd find himself apologizing to her, (b) use reverse psychotic psychology on him and he'd find himself apologizing to her or (c) justify point by point every single one of his complaints about the relationship and why they shouldn't break up, and – you guessed it – he'd find himself apologizing to her at the end of it all. I never thought I'd say this, but breaking up is a lot harder than actually hooking up! Any advice on what he can do?
Taste Test
We all have individual tastes in music, fashion, food, sports, art, and entertainment. Some of us like loud, emo rock music while others prefer mellow tunes. Some people enjoy spicy food, while others cannot stand it and would most probably rather starve to death. A single group of friends have such diverse tastes in almost every aspect of their personalities that I can't help but wonder: how does it develop? Where do we get all these ideas about what we like and what we dislike?
1. Cultural background – Depending on what country you're from, and what region it belongs to in the world, cultures generally dictate the preferences in food and fashion.
2. Peer pressure – A lot of the things we like are from the influence of friends, i.e. when they hand us CD's or DVD's of their favorite artists and let us listen to or watch them then grow to like the things they do.
3. Educational influence – There's no denying it, our schools play a vital role in our lives; they force us to read this and that, watch this and that, study the paintings and works of him and her...and we surprise ourselves by actually enjoying them!