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6 Surprising Things That Make You Unique

6 Surprising Things That Make You Unique


The drive to stand out from the crowd and be special and unique is a mighty one. But with all the fantastic people in the world doing incredible things with their lives, you might sometimes feel lost in it all.

But have some positive thinking! You’re unique, even when you don’t feel like you are. You’re more than just a sum of your parts, and yet even those parts alone can make you even more distinct. Here are six special things that make you unique.

1.    Your Personality

Personality refers to multiple different aspects of one’s identity. Typically, character is seen most clearly in the way you interact with others, so behavior plays a significant role in demonstrating character. A mix of acquired and inherent factors affect these characteristics. Here are some aspects of personality that make you unique:

·         Your Attitude

The way you perceive the world dictates your attitude, and that attitude can have huge effects on negative and positive thinking. You can drag others down with a bad mood or lift others up with the right attitude. The way your perspective is shaped can often influence your success and progress in life. If you tend to look on the bright side of things, you’re likely to enjoy more accomplishments and have more positive experiences with those around you.

·         Your Perspectives

Only you see things exactly as you do. Only you have lived in your shoes, seen things from your angle, and experienced life uniquely as you are. This combination of knowledge and thought leads to a distinct perspective. Even if you have a similar view to others, you are still entirely unique in your complete perspective on the world! This is also why it’s important to listen to other people’s thoughts and ideas, too, as they provide views you will never have otherwise.

·         Your Sense Of Humor

Who and what do you find funny? What kinds of jokes do you tell? How do you tell them? What makes you laugh? What don’t you find funny? All these details add up to your overarching sense of humor, and that makes you unique, too!

·         Your Quirks

You are a collection of different bits and pieces that all come together to make you a standalone individual. This includes many quirks, like little things you do, ways you react to something, or ways you speak. Things like this can add to your uniqueness and make you stand out!

2.    Where You Grew Up

Did you know that your home environment as a child can affect how you develop and grow? Studies on adopted children who enter better socioeconomic homes show a clear correlation between IQ and home environment. A child adopted from a poor environment into a wealthy household is likely to score a more positive result on an IQ test than someone adopted into a poor home.

But why does this happen? Is it indeed wealth that dictates intelligence? Well, that’s unlikely to be the case. It seems more likely that the environment of poor and wealthy homes is to blame instead, as factors like stress are known to damage the brain and affect development. This factor is particularly true for children whose brains are still developing, according to research. Living in a more impoverished home or a more dangerous neighborhood could potentially worsen the risk of chronic stress patterns.

Of course, it’s also worth stating that several other things can affect stress levels than financial status. Abusive homes, bullying at school, or feeling repressed when growing up can lead to stress levels that affect cognitive development.

3.    Your Identity

Can you answer this question–“Who are you?”. That question is a straightforward one, and its answers lie in your entire being – or, more specifically, in your identity. Here are some aspects of identity that make you a unique individual:

·         Style

What is your personal style? How do you present yourself to others? What types of clothes and accessories do you wear? Do you use makeup? How do you do your hair? What’s your preferred aesthetic? These things are a part of your external identity!

·         Ethnicity and Culture

Where did you grow up? What is your ethnic origin? Do you feel pride and kinship for your ethnicity or culture? Do you feel disconnected from it? What things from these backgrounds do you bring with you in your life today? For many people, these things are huge parts of identity.

·         Age

Believe it or not, age can be a considerable part of the identity that makes you unique. How old do you feel? How much experience do you have? Are there things about your body that have changed? These things can all influence aspects of your identity.

·         Gender

Are you a man? A woman? Neither? Something in between? Nothing at all? This can make up a big part of your identity. It’s worth noting that gender and sex are two different things; studies discuss gender as something social, not biological, though the theory is still being fleshed out with research. This means that you are free to analyze your gender more closely. What aspects of you are feminine? Which ones are masculine? What do you see in yourself?

·         Spirituality

Are you a religious person? Do you nurture your spiritual health with prayer, meditation, or other techniques? Or do you practice unorthodox forms of spirituality? Do you seek to uncover mysteries of the universe? These are great questions that can give you a lot of insight into your own identity.

·         Beliefs

What is your political alignment? How about your thoughts on current events? What is your view on the world and life? Beliefs form your opinions and, eventually, your personality, making them a significant part of a unique identity.

4.    What You Like

You’re not defined exclusively by your interests, but you can’t deny that they play quite a role when it comes to the people you attract or surround yourself with. It can also say a lot about who you are. Here are some examples of how!

·         Hobbies

How do you like to spend your time? Are your hobbies mainly solitary, or do they involve others? Do your hobbies require patience, or are they very action-oriented? Are those hobbies commonly associated with people of your profession, temperament, or appearance? All these questions contribute to how your hobbies make you unique.

·         Passions and Goals

What is it that drives you and moves you forward every day, even when the going gets tough? What helps you keep your positive thinking? How did these goals and passions become entrenched in the first place? Often, what someone is passionate about plays a significant role in determining their personality or community!

·         Habits

What are some things you do without even realizing it? How do you tend to spend your days? Do you follow a routine? What are some good and poor habits you have, and do you care about them? Habits often say a lot about what a person finds familiar and comfortable.

5.    Your Experiences

No one can deny that experiences shape the person you are today. You are often a product of the things you’ve been through. This doesn’t mean you’re defined by your part, but it does mean that you learn and grow through them. Here are some ways your experiences make you unique:

·         Childhood

We’ve already touched on the ways your environment growing up influences who you become. That applies to all aspects of your childhood. How did you grow up? What parenting styles did your parents favor? Research indicates that what happens in your youth is most likely to dictate the adult you become.

·         Trauma

Most people have been through trauma at some point in their lives. How has your trauma harmed you? Are you still struggling to overcome it? What have you learned from it? How has it influenced the way you respond to things today? It’s not unusual at all to feel like you became a different person after experiencing trauma.

·         Opportunities

What opportunities were provided to you in life? What inherent privileges were you born with? Have you seized or missed great opportunities? Without the opportunities you were given, you would likely be in a very different place than you are now – and that’s why they’re part of what makes you unique!

·         General Experiences

The things you have been through, whether positive or negative, have all taught you lessons or changed you in some way. How you responded to each of those experiences has also dictated much of who you are now!

6.    Nature and Nurture

For years, experts have referred to the debate of what affects growth and development as “nature vs. nurture.” This, however, might be the wrong way of thinking about it. Based on our list here today, it is reasonably evident that both aspects affect your unique personality and individuality.

Nature accounts for – as an example – your risk factors for disorders, your appearance, and even some part of your temperament. It’s boiled down to simple genetics, and that’s what nature is all about: biological reality. But some aspects of nature never come into play at all, and DNA cannot dictate every possible part of who you become. If genetics were indeed all that mattered, twins who share the same DNA would not emerge from the womb with differences in appearance and personality.

On the other hand, nurture is responsible for – as an example – your values, the lessons you’ve learned from experiences, and things that make you feel nostalgic for your childhood. It’s not just about family, but about experiences, mistakes, your hometown, how well you were cared for… the list goes on! If nurture were indeed all that mattered, experts wouldn’t have uncovered so many links between genetics and different risks in life.

So what, then, is the likely answer in the nature vs. nurture debate? The answer is that there shouldn’t have been a debate between them in the first place! No aspects of nature and nurture exist in a vacuum. They intertwine and work with each other to create the person that you are. Elements of your nature interact with aspects of your nurture to provide you with unique experiences, thoughts, and reactions.

Final Thoughts On Some Things That Make You Unique

Many people can view uniqueness as a bit of a paradox. Since every person in the world is, indeed, unique, are you unique at all? Well, there’s no direct answer to that, but no matter what, you are a separate and distinct individual from those around you. A million different factors all had to align for you to be exactly who you are today – and that’s a beautiful thing!

Business

In the Business of Selling Tours? Unique Ways to Promote Your Tour Company

In the Business of Selling Tours? Unique Ways to Promote


In the Business of Selling Tours? Unique Ways to Promote Your Tour Company

International tourism is a widely popular industry, and the US is right in the thick of things. In fact, tourism spending in America has risen to $210.7 billion in recent years, making it one of the most lucrative sectors of the US economy.

When people visit awe-inspiring US venues, they’ll likely want to go on a tour. Group tours are the best way to see everything at a tour site, including areas with restricted access. Plus, they give people a lot of information about the place they’re visiting to make sure that the experience is both educational and memorable.

Whether you’re looking for international tourism business ideas or local ones, whether you’re looking for customers to tour a national park or an office building, you’re going to need some good marketing.

Here, we’re going to give you some awesome ideas to get your tour business off the ground!

Think About Your Type of Tour

There are a lot of different types of tours that you can offer, all catering to different audiences. If you’re trying to entice international tourists to come to check out a famous monument or natural wonder, you’re going to want to market in both more languages and on a broader platform.

On the other hand, if you want to market something for a niche audience, you’re only going to need to get the word out to others in your niche. Want to offer tours of a work plant? Websites like https://www.plant-tours.com/ are great models to look into if you want to have great marketing.

Basically, as with most businesses, the first step to marketing is identifying your target audience and making strides to connect with these specific individuals.

Partner With Other Businesses

One way you can market to a lot of people is by partnering with other businesses. This can mean that you will be doing business with another company that offers things you can use on tour.

For example, if you want to hire a business to cater lunch while on your tour, you can ask them in exchange to advertise for your tour to customers in their restaurant.

Partnering with other businesses could also mean offering mutual discounts. This would mean that people would be given specific coupons when on your tour to go and use the services of another business in the area that you have partnered with. Likewise, the business would be giving out coupons and flyers advertising discounts for your tours.

Basically, partnering with another business means that you’ll be establishing a mutually beneficial professional relationship with a company that operates within a different niche than you do!

Include Images on Websites

Did you know that 64% of people are visual learners? Well, it’s true!

This means that when you’re marketing in flyers or online, you’re going to want to use images and graphics to promote your business. Think about including some shots of the most interesting parts of your tour. Photos of people having a good time while in your venue are also great.

If you’re marketing online, also try including videos and snippets of a virtual tour. These media are sure to leave potential clients wanting more by making them curious… thus causing them to book a tour of your site.

Use E-Marketing Strategies

Since online marketing is so important in today’s day and age, let’s elaborate a little more on what e-marketing entails.

The first thing you need to do is design a website all of your own. This will make your business look professional and knowledgeable. It’s also a great place to include a section where people can book tours and contact you. Don’t forget to also include a review section where satisfied customers can recommend you!

To get this website to target the right people in your niche, search engine optimization (SEO) services are a must-have. These will get your website in front of the eyes of your target audience since it uses key words that people have searched to show them relevant information.

Since most people also are on social media like Twitter and Facebook, setting up pages on those platforms is also a great idea. People can follow and share your pages to get them on the screens of other interested parties.

Give Out Discount Codes

Another great marketing technique is giving out discount codes!

When people have had a great time and finished your tour, hand out discount codes at the end. These discount codes will give deals to the person that they give them to if they book your services, too. Since the people giving them out will have had a positive experience, you’re bound to get more customers who are in for a discounted, well-priced good time.

You can also give people discounts on future tours for giving out the coupon code! Just make sure that you offer a way to know who referred to new customers, and you’ll end up with a lot of satisfied people looking for tours at low prices.

Get More Tourism Business Ideas

It can be difficult to make it in the tourism industry. If you use good marketing strategies, include enticing pictures on your web page, and cater to the specific customers in your niche, though, you should do just fine.

Now that you know the best tourism business ideas, visit the content strategy section of ArticleCity. We’ll help you come up with more unique and effective ways to promote and grow your business.

Have fun getting out there and showing people around!

 

Health

5 Unique and Healthy Ways to Break a Smoking Addiction

5 Unique and Healthy Ways to Break a Smoking Addiction


5 Unique and Healthy Ways to Break a Smoking Addiction

You may smoke, but that doesn’t mean that you’re happy to be a smoker. Smoking addiction affects a lot of people and many wish that they could drop the habit altogether.

According to a survey from the American Cancer Society, 70% of the participants want to stop smoking. Giving up smoking can be one of the most challenging things you do, but that doesn’t mean that it’s impossible.

Ending Smoking Addiction

If you want to stop smoking, there are a variety of things you can do to help get rid of your habit. People have used mental tricks, products, and even medical help to stop their habit.

Are you ready to stop smoking? Any of these five methods could help you finally quit for good.

Delay

Are you close to giving in to your tobacco craving? Instead of taking a smoke break right now, just wait a few minutes. It may sound crazy, but those few minutes can help do a lot to stop a craving in its tracks.

Spend 5-10 minutes doing something else. Check your e-mail, look at social media, or basically do anything to get your mind off of your craving. After awhile it should pass and you won’t feel the need to smoke anymore.

Deal With Stress Constructively

Smoking and stress almost work together hand-in-hand. A study from the Pew Research Center shows that a lot of smokers struggle with stress, and those stressful feelings cause them to light up more cigarettes.

If you’re a stress smoker you need to find a different way to handle feelings of stress. Some people find that using a stress ball helps them. Others have used yoga or meditation to center themselves and fight off cravings.

Find New Routines

Some people like to end their lunch breaks with a cigarette or two, and others need a smoke before they go to sleep. Smokers that fall into routines can have trouble quitting because it became a part of their daily schedule.

Finding a new routine can help you break your smoking habit. Replace your scheduled smoke breaks with new routines that are satisfying.

Instead of having that post-lunch smoke, take a quick walk to energize yourself for the next half of the day. Consider having a snack instead of a smoke before bed.

Think About Natural Remedies

If you want to quit smoking, mother nature may be able to help.There are a variety of herbs and other natural things that can help break your smoking addiction.

Cream of tartar health benefits have been touted by naturalists for years, and it can also help you quit smoking. Ginseng has also been known to help combat cravings.

Reward Yourself

Quitting smoking is tough, and even just slowing down your habit is a cause for celebration. Quitting comes with a variety of health benefits, but small rewards along the way can make it easier to end your smoking addiction.

If you just went your first day without smoking, treat yourself to a fancy coffee in the morning. If you’ve gone weeks or months without a cigarette, it may be time to buy the new pair of shoes you’ve been eyeing.

Your Turn

What helped you end your smoking addiction? Did we miss your favorite method to break habits? Tell our readers about it in the comments!