Being influenced is a most normal thing. These days we even got so called “influencers” outside of thinkers and the realm of culture, both topics that would generally be counted as influential.
Recently I’ve been more and more aware of how certain pieces of media do influence myself, as in writing or lifestyle choices. Both of these I find to be highly personal things that I’d rather develop myself instead of being heavily influenced by another’s ideas. I have not always been at this point, but in recent months I found these categories important pieces that build a character and identity, so one just takes that being interesting away by adapting from certain places. And hinders personalized developments of said.