When I was a kid, I wanted to be an actress. My father always told me I should be a medic. Now, I’m planning to study medicine.

Once, I wore a white top. Two or three people told me I looked good in that color. Now, when I need to make a good first impression, I always wear white.

Last year, I wrote articles for the Shofar newsletter, and a few people approached me and told me they had read them and liked them. This year, I chose to apply to be a journalism correspondent for the BBYO Press Corps.

These are just a few examples that show how one comment from another person can affect us, whether it be positively or negatively.

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My name is Amy Hornstein. I’m 16 years old, and I am not an original person. I am made up of other people's opinions, appearances, and personalities.

I have my mother’s hair and my father’s characteristics. I love video games because my brother played them with me when we were younger. I was a fan of Harry Potter because my best friend in the 5th grade loved it. I wore a pair of Converse until they broke because one of my best friends gifted them to me. I wear Adidas because Harry Styles wore them on his world tour. I got the inspiration to write this article because of the speech Caro Orbuch gave at the last ILTC separates.

I am built from the influence of others; we all are. We draw inspiration from our surroundings, and from the people we love, and these are the moments that shape us. The things we love, the choices we make, and the people we become are all pieces of our puzzle, coming together to create our lives as we know them. If you take a moment to think, I’m sure you can find a piece of your puzzle that’s been molded by someone or something you admire.

Many of these qualities we’ve come to have, we probably don’t even realize how we got them.

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When you go shopping with someone and try something on, don’t you always ask, “How does this look?” It’s just something we all do. I don’t know where it started, but what I do know is that whenever I go shopping, these four words are always asked, no matter the circumstances.

Or, when you look up what's trendy right now and suddenly decide you want it.

This can even apply to politics: you vote for someone in an election because you admire their platform.

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Why do we care so much about what people think, about following trends, about being liked by other people?

I think if you were to break it down simply, the answer is that people feel that fitting in is the most important thing.

We want to be liked; it’s human nature. Other people’s opinions matter more than most of us care to admit. We want validation from people we admire.

The silver lining, though, is that with all of this insecurity and the feeling that you need to be more like others comes the puzzle that your life is forming. All these people whose validation you seek are a part of that puzzle.