Reading something tonight has sparked my interest. It brought up a point about an idea not being of a single person's creation, but rather shared between two or more people. And while this makes sense, I thought about expounding upon this theory. What if: you define yourself based on the people you surround yourself with.
[This story's old but it goes on and on until we disappear.]
And when I write this, let's say you are named Frances. Frances has several groups of friends: A, B, C, E (D was deleted after a massive fight with the group's leader) etc etc etc. Does Frances exist beyond the context of being with these groups of friends? Frances as a singular being is still Frances, but does Frances have a personal identity? Is Frances within friend group A the same as Frances within friend group C? Of course not! Because who we are is not so much what we are, but rather how we are. And by that, I mean how we react to experiences/ideas/actions. Within friend group A, I may decide that a proper reaction to a friend slipping and falling is to laugh hysterically and continue to push them over as they attempt to pull themselves up. But within friend group E, the proper reaction may be to dial out for medical help because no issue is too small to be over-examined. You are not what you think you are, but rather how you react. You do, therefore, have multiple personalities. Nobody responds the same within multiple social circles. Maybe friend circles have scientifically proven roles that each friend must fill in order to function as a proper entity. Perhaps each group must have the really loud friend, the super shy friend, the one who loves to eat, the constantly falling asleep friend (no need to introduce myself): each circle must have one of each. YOU change which role you fulfill within each circle, even though you are always Frances. At the core of your chemical makeup, nothing changes from being with group A to group B. But mentally, you are an entirely different species.
Then ask me what it's like to have myself so figured out. Wish I knew.
