The Way We Are Viewed

Often times the way others view us is the way we view ourselves. We are easily influenced by what others think because it is instinct to want to impress everyone. If you want someone to like you, obviously we are going to care what they think. Should we? Probably not, but we do. In order to be liked we take other people's criticism and what is "wrong" with us, or what they just don't like about us. Once someone says they don't like something about us, it sticks in our heads. Once it's there it's hard to forget. In return, we will subconsciously try to change their opinion. Whether it be changing something about us, or simply defending ourselves to make it sound better, even if it's a lie.
We all have different groups of friends we hang out with. When we are with some people we act one way, with others we act a different way. I know I do. That's because we are letting our peers determine our behavior. We let that happen because we don't want to be seen as an outcast or abnormal to our friends. The fear of not fitting in is more overpowering than many would like to believe. We just want to be good enough, but no one really knows who determines what good enough is, so, we let our friends decide what is good enough. Naturally, we try to fix what ever is supposedly wrong with us. At this point, the need to be perfect overcomes us.