One of my most deeply rooted fears is that one day, my friends will realize that I\u2019m honestly not that great. I\u2019m afraid they\u2019ll finally see I\u2019m not as funny as I pretend to be and that I\u2019m not even that enjoyable to be around. I get sick with the thought that someone may decide I don\u2019t add enough value to be worth the trouble.<\/p>\n
These are irrational worries, I know. I\u2019m usually confident in the constant love shown to me by so many wonderful people in my life. I know I don\u2019t have to earn the right to be loved by them.<\/p>\n
And yet, the fear persists in moments of weakness, making me doubt relationships and friends I have no reason to ever question. I\u2019m also afraid of rejection. I\u2019m afraid of not being good enough. I\u2019m afraid of letting people down.<\/p>\n
I think we all are, to some degree. These potential situations are, at the very least, uncomfortable and oftentimes downright paralyzing. None of us wants to feel like we\u2019re unworthy, and we would never want to make anyone else want to feel that way, either.<\/p>\n
Except during Club Week.<\/p>\n
After weeks of welcoming potential new members to our open houses and mixers with love and acceptance, we invite some to be official members. Then, just like that, we drop our smiles for stern faces and replace our warm demeanors with cold shoulders.<\/p>\n
Some people think through their decision to act this way. I can respect that, in a way. I understand the pull of tradition and the rationalization that a group may become closer through shared hardships. I don\u2019t necessarily agree \u2014 but I can see the logic.<\/p>\n
However, I\u2019m concerned by some of the comments I have overheard throughout this Club Week. I\u2019ve heard things like, \u201cI try to avoid the new members so I don\u2019t have to be mean to them\u201d and \u201cI\u2019m too nice \u2014 I need to be more intimidating.\u201d<\/p>\n
When questioned about a less-than-kind tradition, someone even responded with, \u201cI don\u2019t like being mean, but it\u2019s just what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Do you see why this may be concerning?<\/p>\n
During Club Week, we forget how to think for ourselves. We get caught up in the chants, the face paint and the traditions. As old members, we do what\u2019s expected of us, even if it\u2019s unnatural or uncomfortable. It\u2019s just what everyone does, so we go along with the set precedent.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a term in group communication known as \u201cgroupthink.\u201d In a nutshell, it describes a situation in which members of a group stop thinking critically about decisions and fall into a sort of mob mentality.<\/p>\n
A group who falls into the trap of groupthink is not functioning properly.<\/p>\n
We don\u2019t all have to be separate entities, nor do we have to drift along numbly with previous expectations. The perfect group is one comprised of individuals who work in unity through thinking for themselves. (Insert \u201csocial club,\u201d \u201cteam\u201d and even \u201cchurch.\u201d)<\/p>\n
Social clubs have every chance to be exactly that: Individuals in a community. Honestly, I think they function this way pretty well most of the time. That\u2019s why Club Week stands in such stark contrast \u2014 we stop thinking for ourselves and start following the crowd, whatever crazy colors it may be decked out in.<\/p>\n
Part of me doesn\u2019t want to use my column space for this. It\u2019s the end of 2019\u2019s Club Week, meaning most of these ramblings are null and void until next year. I also have a sneaking suspicion that my 600 weekly words aren\u2019t going to change anyone\u2019s thoughts toward Club Week groupthink.<\/p>\n
I think it\u2019s important, however, to follow through on the convictions we have, so here I am. The next time you find yourself falling into groupthink, try to shake it off. Stage your own individual rebellion just by being yourself, with your own convictions and actions.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s keep working in groups \u2014 but let\u2019s also keep thinking as individuals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One of my most deeply rooted fears is that one day, my friends will realize that I\u2019m honestly not that great. I\u2019m afraid they\u2019ll finally see I\u2019m not as funny…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15102,"featured_media":13763,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[78,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns","category-opinions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15102"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13820"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13820\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13821,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13820\/revisions\/13821"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}