Hippie (noun): a person raised under the ideological system of the 1960s, most commonly from the flower-child/baby boomer generation or their offspring; possesses a core belief set revolving around the values of peace and love as being essential in an increasingly globalized society.
Although there are aspects of being a hippie that Valley does not wholeheartedly encourage — like the excessive use of marijuana and hallucinogenic drugs — Valley encourages you to embrace the more positive and legal side of hippie ideology!
Hippies are known for their ability to go with the flow and chill out. Although life tends to be full of drama, the best thing to do, in most situations, is to let life run its course. There are so many elements of life that can’t be controlled, so sometimes it’s better to just accept the lack of control and not stress about it. Hippies are able to make the most out of any situation, no matter how hopeless it seems.
Hippies are also great at embracing their weirdness and being their true selves. Relaxation is an almost permanent state of being for hippies, so they don’t care as much about what other people think. Without the constant worrying about what others think, hippies allow themselves to freely be themselves and do things for themselves, instead of doing things based on others’ opinions.
As a part of embracing the weirdness and doing things for themselves, hippies constantly experiment with fashion, causing the rise in popularity of bell bottoms, tie-dye, flowers and bright, aesthetic colors and patterns. If you want to take the process of embracing your inner hippie to the next level, you can absolutely embrace some of their style choices from the 1960s and 1970s.
If you ultimately decide to test out hippie fashion, you’ll automatically embrace two more qualities of being a hippie: trying new things and putting yourself out there. Hippies aren’t afraid to be different – they don’t care that how they act might draw someone’s attention to them. A hippie is always willing to try something new, as long as the something new spreads peace and love to one another.
Erin Baumgartner, a freshman, says, “I think I embrace my inner hippie by trying to be free-spirited in how I live my life. It can be an easy default to just conform to what other people are doing, but by being true to what you’re passionate about and trying alternative ways of doing things, I think you get a more authentic and inspired experience of taking advantage of all the world has to offer. It’s a pretty rad life.”
Hippies live in the moment. They want to enjoy life and the happiness that it has the potential to bring. In order to do this, they make sure to spread positivity in all aspects of life, help others enjoy their time on this earth, and lose themselves in each and every life moment, as to try to soak up as many amazing details of life as possible.
