Looking back upon my early childhood crushes, they all seemed to stem from one of my friends telling me about a boy they liked. In the fourth grade, there was a boy in my class: let’s call him “Harry”. All the girls liked Harry. Eight year old me was very susceptible to the power of suggestion.
As I got older, I found myself disliking what was popular; I wonder if there’s a correlation between that dislike and being a part of a horde of giggling eight year olds talking about the cutest boy in the class. I wanted to separate myself from everyone else. But disliking what’s popular is a rough mindset. Why do we hate on others for just having interests? It’s okay to like what’s popular—being against what’s trending doesn’t make you a more interesting person, it’s not a personality trait!
Speaking of liking what’s popular, I’m really looking forward to Daisy Jones & The Six coming out on Amazon Prime in a few weeks. I read the book in a matter of days over the Christmas break, so I’d have read the book by the time the show comes out. I saw a comment under a post on the show’s Instagram saying, “I’d never watch this garbage because it’s basically a Fleetwood Mac ripoff!” On the surface, yes, it looks that way, but it isn’t. I really liked Daisy Jones & The Six. It was very well-written, and it’s popular for that reason. That commenter has no idea what they’re talking about. As you can see, it’s just easier to hate on popular things than setting aside the time to read the book or watch the show, and form your own opinion.
It’s okay to like what’s popular, because really, who cares? There’s no reason to have a superiority complex about your interests. I guess, in a roundabout way, that’s the lesson I learned from Harry.
XO Erin