Who are the biggest influences in your life?

Personally, I don’t really have influences in the conventional sense. There are, however, people I look up to—most notably, my father. He was an ideal person in my eyes. I have never seen anyone as remarkable as him.He had a natural ability to put people in their exact place, was deeply empathetic, and maintained a sense of justice even in the face of hypocritical, thick-skinned people. If I were a son, he would have been a defining influence in my life.

But I am a daughter, and the world does not hand me the same paths. Being a daughter, I do not feel the same kind of influence. Still, there are people whose lives and choices I find puzzling or even unworthy. Their existence serves as a contrast, an example of what I would never want to copy. There are lives I would never wish to live, people I would never wish to become. Perhaps this is influence in reverse, a mirror of what I refuse.

I believe each person moves through the world with their own set of opportunities and goals, shaping their decisions and carving their own paths. Influence is never simple. It is not a shadow to follow, but a spark to understand—a reflection of what we honor and what we choose to reject. In this way, both admiration and contrast guide us, helping us become the person we decide to be rather than a copy of someone else.