Why Is Everyone Around Me Acting So Weird? 🥴
Why you might feel like society today is extra angry or irrational.
Do you ever just look around and wonder… why is everyone around me acting so… weird? Or is it just me?
Don’t get me wrong, society has always been pretty… strange. But I’m not talking about the different cultures that exist and their unique characteristics or how society is constantly changing their cultural ideas and idiosyncrasies. (For example, how we all thought the earth belonged to the center of the universe or how nobody ever took baths.)
I’m talking about how people are acting more angry, irrational, and out of the ordinary. Just saying, it wasn’t too long ago that we thought clowns were terrorizing every town in America. (Remember that? That was pretty weird.)
People around me are acting a little strange, too. Just the other day in my town I saw a man stand outside a car dealership with a sign that said, “Never buy from this place! They WILL steal your money!” with a solemn, angry look on his face. I’m guessing that man DID NOT have a great experience buying his car there.
If you’ve noticed how people are more irritated lately, then you’re definitely not alone. A lot of factors play into this idea, though.
Reason #1: The pandemic, obviously.
It’s fair to say that the pandemic played a role in why we feel so out of control of our environment. We’re still more stressed than ever before, we’re tired of everything being out of control, and I have a feeling we still have so much to unpack after going through two full mask-wearing years of a very real pandemic. (aka, pandemic trauma.)
The pandemic was already a lot of stress. Now, we’re getting out into the real world, but it’s still stressful (hint hint: gas prices, the rise of mental health issues, etc.). We’ve already encountered too many stressors such as layoffs or lack of childcare, and we’re still facing more in the future.
Reason #2: We’re lonely and still in need of a community.
Humans are hard-wired to connect for survival. Whatever we want to believe, we are very reactive to our environment, and depend on our social bonds for our highest happiness and joy.
When something in our society (ahem, *a pandemic*) disrupts our social bonds, then we react negatively and become really fucking pissed at the world for messing up our social life. Some people may even take action into their own hands, just like that guy did earlier in my post when he took a cardboard sign that said the equivalent of “I’m pissed!!!” to the car dealership.
Reason #3, the final reason to end all reasons: Humans are just weird AF.
We live in a moody, unpredictable world because people are moody and unpredictable.
When I was little, I always heard the term, “I wish I could live back in the good ole days like the 50s, where we just went to work and came back home and that was it.”
To that, I say, from the wise words of my community college history teacher, “life has always been pretty shitty.”
Sure, the 50s had cheaper gas prices and a calmer, more regimented way of life, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t full of strife. This was a time of rampant racial discrimination and violence, (i.e. Jim Crow era.) not to mention poverty still existed back then for Black Americans and other immigrants coming into the country at that time. The “good ole days” concept is more of a rosy-tinted sunglasses view that non-people of color can wear as justification for living a happier, more successful life back then than any person of color did at the time.
People are very unpredictable. From our genes, and our nurturing from our family to our environment and society, we can have so many different influences telling us what to do, what to say, and when to say it. That’s enough to make a person stressed out from time to time. Add in generational trauma and a pandemic, then those issues are more likely to make a person bitter and angry about the world, no questions asked.
So what does this mean? Are we just doomed to deal with moody, weird people and destined to become one in the future?
Of course not. Although people are more likely to become negative after a stressful event, we also have other qualities that make us unique, creative, and extremely generous with others when faced with diverse circumstances.
People have always been driven to innovate. It can be through the newest electric car, a brand-new sustainability program to recycle glass bottles in your city, or a new policy your boss enacted so you or your female coworkers can get the childcare they’ve always needed.
Just as much as humans feel like they need to vent out their feelings, they’re also driven by a need to create and inspire.
It’s an important fact to remember when you feel as if nobody understands your negative emotions and circumstances.
Most people want to move up in life, and it only takes a push from someone else for them to get there.