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Strangling Conformity: The Cost of Normalizing

Midwestern America loves its patriotic, idyllic lifestyle. Flag saluting, God-praising, and red, white, and blue living come at a cost.

Libby Winkler
3 min readJun 24, 2023
Photo by Sander Sammy on Unsplash

The cost of normalizing the typical “Midwestern way” is stifling creativity and strangling individualism.

Midwesterners live in a world where one must conform to the status quo or risk rejection from their peers. People are expected to look, talk, dress, and act like everyone else; anything different is considered strange or wrong.

This stringent social pressure rewards conformity and punishes individuals who don’t fit the mold.

It creates a timeline of what’s expected in life and forces people to conform or be left behind. People are judged harshly for any deviation from the norm, including anything that is deemed out of place, odd, or unconventional. The pressure to conform makes it difficult for people to express their true selves, and many are struggling with the pressure to fit in. It can be hard to…

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Libby Winkler
Libby Winkler

Written by Libby Winkler

Freelance writer who loves exploring the messiness of humanity, while poking around in nooks of life and shining light on all the things that make us complex..

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