We are context-dependent creatures.
I get very inspired when I travel, and look at people from my traveler-perspective.
I look at myself, at how I react differently to different places. I also look at people; and how they react differently to me…
We judge by the cover
… I’ll take the duty-free shop for an example.
I was wandering around in London’s duty free with my backpack. I spent hours looking at alcohol bottles: they had some I had never seen before, it was quite an interesting stroll! No one cared to bother me, except when I stopped at the special-selection-section, with bottles worth more than 300 euros each. Here, despite my traveler’s backpack that usually does me a disfavor, a gentleman came along and offered his kindest help – which I politely declined.
On the other hand, when I travel for business or in more sophisticated clothing, I get handed free samples and smiles on the go. Privileges you aren’t allowed, dressed as a standard hippy on a budget!
People judge by the cover, we have to. Our brains have to simplify busy surroundings in order to effectively orient us one way or another. This heuristic simplification goes hand in hand with the excess of stimuli in our environment: it would be impossible to extensively process all the data around us, we need our biases. Consider it to be “attention economics”: you would pay much more attention to someone if you happened to be alone, face to face in a forest, than you will in cities, where you need to “think fast of sink fast”.
Not only do we judge by the cover, we also act and feel by it.
Our actions depend on our judgments, and our judgments depend on our actions.
I, for example, am not a big city person.
Big cities make me stressed, agitated: I feel like the resources I care about get scattered where capitalist interactions prevail. I suddenly feel the need to do more, and become more self-conscious. Many however will seek the cities, as they are to them a symbol of possibilities, movement, opportunities…
Similarly: nature, which makes me feel peaceful and content, can make someone else feel isolated or bored.
Context will impact you differently depending on which type of person you are, and which type of person you want to be.
Not only do we judge by the cover, we also act and feel by it.
So if you want change: why not start by making change happen, in your environment?
There is no right and wrong: just the way you decide to live, in an environment. Which type of person are you? Which trait would you like to expand, or develop? Which environment is more likely to develop it?
It is important to pick the context that suits you best, depending on character and personality traits.
Not only do we judge by the cover, we also act and feel by it.
Whichever environment you chose, make sure to move from time to time. This will give you chance to learn, to develop new resources, to evolve. At the end of the day, you will be moving your best (and worst) features with you – thankfully they’re not as visible as a backpack ????
>> Read on with part 2, here.
