No Limits |
The Freedom Blog™
Who Do You
See When You Look In The Mirror?
Written
by Steven Griggs | stevengriggs.com
“People
want to be in their own fashion tribes, so they want to wear the same clothes
to be connected to everyone else in that tribe. But they want to be different
from other tribes.”
Christian
Lacroix
“What tribes are, is a very simple
concept that goes back 50 million years. It's about leading and connecting
people and ideas. And it's something that people have wanted forever.” Seth
Godin
Who
are you? What message are you projecting out to the world? Did you even think
you were projecting a message?
Maybe
you are not consciously trying but by not trying to you are still sending a
message.
Who
are you trying to notify? What information are you trying to present?
It’s
all about presentation, how we present ourselves helps notify others about who
we are. It helps them see what we believe and where we stand.
It’s
a warning and a beacon. One glance around and you know exactly where you are
and where you stand.
But
the bottom line is that we do it because we all just want to belong.
If
you were a new visitor to our planet, you would see that we are all basically
wearing costumes.
Your clothes, your shoes, your hair or makeup, everything you are
presenting on your body says something about you.
Your
costume identifies your tribe. Or in the case of Amazon Indians, your hair and
your tattoos.
The
motive here is to show other tribe members you belong to their tribe and at the same time show everyone else that
you are not a member of theirs.
Our
costumes are really more about exclusion than inclusion.
Sometimes
people are a little in your face in their efforts to emphasize that they are not a part of your tribe.
But
it’s all just an effort to belong, especially in younger people. It’s almost a
requirement. They need to break away from their parents, from the
establishment, to show their independence.
And that sometimes requires drastic action to make the right statement.
They
use bright hair colors and drastic styles, tattoos, logo wear and clothes,
piercings, etc. to make their point. They use shock and horror as a tool.
I
think we have all been there once upon a time. Maybe some of us were more
drastic than others.
I
know I was.
I
was 14 in 1964. I was in a band. I grew up at Lake Tahoe and hitchhiked to
spend weekends in San Francisco in the Haight Ashbury district. What do you
think I was doing? How do you think I looked?
Talk
about shock and horror. I freaked my family out!
At
least for a minute but then my family is a bit eccentric. Take a look at my mother (Google "Granny G". She was a finalist on America's Got Talent.
But
it’s just a period of transition, a transitioning out of one phase into
another. Some phases take longer than others and some phases can become almost
permanent. I’m sure you know people who are locked into a phase.
Does
it matter? I don’t think so.
But
think of all the tribes that you can immediately identify. You can see them
everywhere, every day.
For
example, look at biker clubs.
I
was at a rally the other day where my friend's band was playing (I was the roadie and part time singer) and there were about 5 or 6 biker clubs there. For me
it was very interesting to see the hierarchy being displayed. With the tattoos,
the bandannas, the leather, the patches, the prospects trying hard to belong, to
earn their full patch. You can see the whole process of belonging in action.
I
have no problem with bikers, I get it. I like bikes. My best friend from
childhood has been a Hell’s Angel since the sixties. He’s probably one of the
few remaining Outlaws alive from the early days of the club.
But
they’re tribes.
Looking
from the outside, although we may not really get how unique it is when several million
kids throughout America are dressed the same way, we understand.
We
can see how the need to be accepted by a group of like souls is so important.
It’s
important to belong, to gain confidence and become more solid. To begin to
become who you are.
It
takes steps, phases and tribes.
Because
it doesn't stop when you leave one tribe behind, you just become part of
another tribe.
And
so it goes.
