One day, a farmer found an eagle’s egg. He picked it up and took it over to the hen house and placed it with all the other eggs. When they hatched, the eagle’s egg hatched with it and a little eagle popped out.

Immediately, the mother hen begins to rear her chicks as she often does and the little eagle was treated exactly the same. As he continued to grow, he assumed he was just a part of the family, another chicken among chickens. And so he went around doing things that all the little chickens did; going around the barnyard and pecking for worms.

When it came to flying he only flew a few feet and would fall down. Time passed by. One day he saw an eagle flying high in the sky. He could not understand what it was. Upon asking a fellow chicken, he was told that it was an Eagle and was a bird of the sky while the chickens were birds of the ground.

The eagle was fascinated with the heights that the bird of the sky would be able to reach. He had always longed to fly higher and eat more than just worms. However, he was in a dilemma. He wanted to fly away. He knew he had to make a decision, and that too, a tough one. So the eagle flew away and lived a life suited for him. 

This is the exact essence of social conditioning. But, wait, let me actually tell you what social conditioning is. We have heard several things about ourselves since our childhood. Our image is formed as a result of conditioning of what we hear since our childhood.

The thoughts and opinions of society affect us and refrain us from making our own decisions. We do what we are asked to without questioning logic or reason. This causes us to lead a life that is approved by society and not a life that we truly wish to lead. This causes us to internalize our strengths and weaknesses and live a life that affects our inner image.

In most cases, it results in the development of a negative image that pivots on our faults and weaknesses which ensures failure. However, a positive self-image helps and value ourselves by understanding and respecting our limitations and assets. 

The strengths and weaknesses that we learn as children are manifested and molded-in us and stay with us for a lifetime. It is ultimately up to us to decide whether we want to overcome the conditioning and live a life based on our personal choices.