Five Top Life Influencers

Five Top Life Influencers

Our lives are shaped by the influencers we give audience to. What we consume basically determines how we see life and how we live it. There are 5 top influencers for me and in this article, I will list them and explain how they affect our lives and our decision-making.

1. People

Our first influencers as children are our parents. unfortunately, none of us choose who are parents are, so this is not by choice. We watch them and unconsciously pick up traits, views and reactions from them. Sometimes we see children criticize their parents’ way of life only for them to turn out just like their parents. The influence of parents over their kids goes far beyond what the kids can ignore. Hence it requires parents to be very careful what they project to their kids.

Friends and family are another people influencers we have. Family not so much a choice just like parents but somehow we can limit how we relate with other family members who are not part of our immediate family. Friends on the hand is by choice except they have got something on you. Many are being misled by friends, a friend flashes something that looks like a good idea but totally against your family values and boom you abandon everything you have learned from home to follow that friend. Friends and family often use peer pressure to influence us. When you allow people have too much influence over your life it is often difficult to say No to them.

2. Experience

Experience is defined as the  process  of getting knowledge  or skill from doing, seeing, or feeling things. It is often said that experience is the best teacher. What people have experienced in the past have a way of shaping their future views. A man who has been cheated on might find it difficult trusting women and vise versa. When you meet people who had terrible experiences growing up they tend to be hostile and they find it difficult trusting others.

Experience however should shape our views of life but should not close our heart. We don’t determine what life throws at us but we, of course, determine how we react to it. Our experiences are like the receipts we earn after life has done a number on us, good or bad. So we earned our experiences, however we can choose to keep the positives and let go of the negatives. Being positive at all times is a choice and despite what we have been through we can always choose to remain open-minded. I will admit it is easier said than done.

3. Books

There is a saying that we are as good as the books we have read and those that taught us. Books have a way of changing how we view life and what our expectations are. Take for instance a child that starts reading financial literacy texts from say age 10, he would see everything about life in terms of monetary values and currencies. Similarly, someone who reads romantic texts, would see relationship in terms of rainbows and colors, flowers and getaways.

The books you read are absolutely your choice and the more you read them, you become skewed to what the books are teaching. When you read motivational text, you often see the positive sides of things, that’s how books work. Like I said, it is a choice thing. When all you read are religious texts, there is tendency you see warfare in every thing except you are able to separate what needs spiritual attention from what needs physical efforts. Books also include any text we read, from WhatsApp broadcasts to tweets all these also affect how we view things and hence influences how we live.

4. Visuals

Visuals refer to all videos we watch which includes movies, documentaries, series, training videos, religious bias videos, short videos, skits, tiktok, Instagram, Vskit etc. Visuals have a way of shaping our views such that our brain often mixup our personal experiences with the visuals we have seen, hence given the brain a vivid impression of visuals as if it happened to us or are about to happen to us. Have you ever wondered why you become more sensitive to everything around you after you have just finished seeing a horror movie? Even your dreams/nightmare can attest to this fact.

Just like the books you read, you also have total control of the visuals you consume. You can decide which app you wish to use and the time you want to spend on it. You can also decide to choose videos that would guide you in terms of what you need to survive in life as against videos that would push you off your track. The influence visuals bring is very close to that of experience so it is difficult to shake off. Therefore, it is better to choose carefully what you watch.

5. Audios

Audio refers to anything you listen to such as music, sermons, meditation tapes, gists, gossips, adverts, radio etc. Audios just like videos has a way of finding its way into the subconscious. Have you ever wonder why a particular song keeps playing in your head and unconsciously you find yourself singing it out loud? Even when you are at sleep, songs find a way of playing itself in your subconscious. However, the good thing about audio is that you have to meditate on the lyrics before it influences you. So what gives audio power to influence you is if you meditate on what you have heard. That’s why you can listen to sermon every Sunday and still act like the devil, once you don’t meditate on what you have heard it can’t influence you.

You can drop your comments on what you think influences you more of the five and if you have others, I will be glad to read from you. Stay blessed stay motivated.