Blog #7: Reflection
What challenges did you overcome throughout this inquiry project? How did you go about
overcoming these challenges?
My inquiry question: Why do we try to fit in society’s standards? Some challenge I overcame through my inquiry project was coming up with 3 smaller questions to lead up to answering my big inquiry question. I overcame this challenge by trying to be more reflective of my own life. I tried thinking about similar questions I would like answered relating to my big question. I chose my three research questions to be: 1. What are society’s standards (beauty, personality, marriage, etc…)? 2. Why are we pressured to fit into these standards? And 3. Are society’s standards advantageous for us? I believed that these questions were essential to research to answer my inquiry question. I was able to research these questions with thoughtful research using many different sources. Other than finding my research questions, I had no challenges with my inquiry research.
How did this inquiry change the way you think?
This inquiry changed the way I think about the people around me. This research made me think about how we are all alike. And how we all want to fit in. We all want to fit in with the social norm. I learned how we are taught to believe in social norms to fit in as we are growing up. I also realized how everyone may have different social norms depending on how they grew up in their household. As much as we all want to fit in, I want to focus on what I want for myself instead of what others would want. This research changes how I think about my self-growth. Do I want to grow into the person my parents want? Or do I want to become my person? I want to be able to pursue my dreams, only concerning myself and not others. I changed my way of thinking by not being ashamed to do something I enjoy. And if I am not accepted for being different, that is not my problem and I will always find my people. I think I changed my mindset of being in control of my own life. I should be in control of my own life and nobody else.
How did this investigation impact your future decisions?
This investigation will impact how I make future choices. After all, we all want to fit in. I used to feel embarrassed when I would tell people what I want to become when I grow up because I knew that I did not have the skills and grades to become what I want. When I told my mom that I wanted to become a doctor, she told me that I am not talented enough to be one. I lost a lot of confidence because my mother did not believe me. I will not be embarrassed to talk about what I want to become and try my best to believe in myself even if I do not achieve this objective. In the future, if I fear doing something because of what others will think of me, I will not let them be in control of my life.
What impact will this investigation have on others locally and/or globally?
I hope reading my research helps others realize that we are too busy thinking about what others think, to even focus on other people. And how irrelevant other’s opinions are, they should not be holding us back from doing what we want. I researched the reasons why people try and follow social norms. I hope my research helps feel like you are not alone. And just focusing on yourself and not making changes because of others is more important than letting others be in control of your life. I hope my research helps people realize that not everything we see on social media is true. Social media affects us globally as what we usually see there is not real, it is a global issue. Locally, I can try and help the people around me, my friends. If I have a friend struggling with body image, I can reassure them that they are good enough. If I notice a friend wanting to change themselves to be more like1 a pretty celebrity, I can remind them that what they see on social media is mostly photoshopped and edited.
This is the conclusion of my research. I hope my inquiry question helps everyone realize to be in control of your own life so there are no regrets later. Thank you for reading.