Summary:
- People are more alike than different.
- People still have their unique personalities.
- These distinct characteristics are the result of our genetics, our environment, and the experiences we go through.
As a whole, people are more alike than different. That might seem like the polar opposite to the popular notion that everyone is unique and diverse, which holds some merit as well.
That’s because these small contrasts in temperament and characteristics can lead to seemingly wildly varying personalities. And that’s precisely why we have such distinct attributes.
If we think about it for a second, then it starts to make sense. Since most people are average, that means that the majority is by and large not all that “special”. And I’m not saying that it’s necessarily a bad thing, nor do I want to put others down. But it is a valid observation, in my opinion. If it wasn’t true, then most would not be ordinary by definition, and that’s what most people are.
But if most of us are sitting right around the median, then that means that we are in truth more the same than we are different.
What makes being mediocre hard to accept is our ego. We like to portray and think about ourselves as being better than we truly are. That’s because we create a vision of ourselves in our imagination, and we are willing to go to great lengths to protect that positive mental representation.
That comes as no surprise to me since we would have to challenge and rethink our current beliefs if we find out they aren’t true. Discovering that we’ve been living in a lie can be mentally painful, especially if we’ve been functioning according to these falsehoods for years, or worse, decades.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Why do people have different personalities?
People have different personalities since we have some small, yet important variations in temperament and personality traits, even though we’re more alike than dissimilar.
These fluctuations arise out of our genetic makeup, the experiences we go through, and the environment we reside in.
That’s why people can have such unique characters, even though we have more overlap than deviations between one another.
What makes us different from each other genetically?
All cells of our human body consist of the same hereditary series of data. Each cell has gone through adaptations to become a heart cell, skin cell, hair cell, and so on. These phenotypic deviations are acquired from mother cells to daughter cells.
Is everyone different?
There are some striking parallels between all of us, but these distinctions in genetics, experiences, and the environment we grow up in make for specific characters.
Can two humans be the same?
Even though they might look precisely the same to the bare eye, they will still have their discrepancies. That’s because they go through unique life events, and will reside in different circumstances due to a different career path, social circle, work environment, et cetera.
How are we all the same?
Despite our dissimilarities, we’re still all the same in the end because we’re all human, and share the same emotions.
We also share identical feelings, needs, and desires, yet vary in the amount we require those things to be content.
It can be argued that we’re ultimately all the same since we’re all human beings in need of love and acceptance to lead a purposeful and happy existence.
Final note
Despite our differences, we are more alike than distinct.
While we praise individuality, uniqueness, and feeling special, the truth is that most people are dead average. That’s not a knock on the norm or these individuals, but it’s a simple fact of life.
Nevertheless, if that’s the case, then we know that there must be certain aspects that keep most folks mediocre. Thus, there’s a lot of overlap between the attributes of most people.
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