But Everyone Else Is

As a kid, if I ever tried to talk my parents into letting me go somewhere, and I used the line, “but everyone else is going,” they would usually respond by saying something like, “So if everyone else was jumping off a cliff, would you too?”

I hated that response.

But there was some truth I needed—and still need—to hear. Just because “everyone else” is doing something, doesn’t automatically make it a good decision. Or just because “everyone else” has a certain way of thinking about something, doesn’t necessarily make it the best line of thought.

The challenge is if everyone we’re around thinks and acts similarly, it can be difficult to even realize there are other options. Which is why it can be helpful to see how someone outside the group, the community, the culture, sees things. Because they might see things through an entirely different lens than we do. And although this doesn’t make their views any better, it can open us up to potential blindspots in how we act or think.

Ultimately, we’re responsible for the choices we make. So better to make sure our decisions are our own, than to simply do what “everyone else” decides.