There are always buzzwords of the moment, they start popping up in businesses, advertising, and schools everywhere. They follow trends that are happening globally, ways of thinking, and attitudes. The big difference between trends and trendy, although underlying movements can eventually BECOME in vogue.
They first start as reflections on what is happening around us and start being seen in our everyday world and language. If you are producing a product, it’s very wide to stay on top of these attitudes and use them in your message to market.
For example, in the early 90’s it was all about recycling. It was the start of a movement towards saving the earth and has certainly become a mainstay in our thinking. The way this was instantly reflected in the product, was through the use of raw, cardboard packaging and the use of the colours brown and especially green. If your product wasn’t recyclable or couldn’t really be recycled your packaging better be. It was everywhere as companies tried to show they cared about the environment. Their wording followed suit.
In this case an important trend became mainstream; it did not come and go.
Today, words are driving the trends, and then coming through in product.
Have you noticed how soft colours have been over the past few years? Look at fashion, interiors, and automotive. As we went inside our homes and in fact, ourselves, they became softer, muted and more nurturing. The words which have come through are:
Gratitude, vulnerability, empathy, emotional intelligence.
All representing feelings. Deep, emotional, soft and nurturing and historically, softer traits.
However, they come through now for different reasons and are seen as strengths.
It’s interesting one could almost call them feminine. But of course, they’re not.
These are highly admired human characteristics any gender would benefit from having.
Gratitude is just being thankful for what you have. Full stop.
Vulnerability just means allowing others to see the real you, to let people in and be authentic. To show and share your feelings with ease.
The empathy of course goes one step beyond sympathy and allows us to put ourselves in other people’s shoes. To feel what THEY might be feeling and be present with them, not on the outside looking in.
Emotional intelligence is the icing on the cake, using both sides of the brain to analyse things and get the best outcome of your thinking in any given situation. The right side to intuitively look at issues and the left to scrutinise them. Brilliant.
These behaviours make you QUIETLY strong, surprising everyone because only recently have these strengths been seen as such.
In the past strength was seen differently, and certainly acted out differently.
And all these qualities require deep thinking, not surface interaction. They mean moving slower, not acting rashly and reacting. Instead of REACT we INTERREACT. A much better way to behave and surely a better way to get results!
It’s interesting in this age of skimming, watching clips instead of entire shows, and listening to mashes of music instead of entire songs. It almost seems like the world lives by the Cliff notes but is somehow doing a better job of understanding. How good is that?
Are we perhaps extracting the best bits? Are we missing things?
I’m not sure. I just know we’re doing it.
Personal Power has a new meaning. It is power within yourself to be yourself, to stand up for what YOU think is right, not what you’ve been told. To consider what is going on around you and be considerate in your response.
To think outside the box and challenge the status quo but present your ideas thoughtfully not aggressively.
It truly is a trend that is here to stay and one we should all welcome with open arms.