My sister had an obsession with Harry Potter once she was old enough to read it. I’m sure many of the younger people in the world had this phase as well. We call it a phase, but the feeling of admiration that my sister had towards Harry Potter is seen in everyday life. Admiration is seen when little children want to be a princess or a dragon, but adults admire as well. For example, it could also just be a colleague admiring your effort or hairstyle and wanting to do the same thing as you.  

When my sister (Caatje) was 9, she went through a phase where she loved the Harry Potter books. She admired the books and everything about it. It inspired her and made her want to be like the characters. I remember how Caatje always put braids in her hair so that she would have frizzy hair. In order to look like Hermione Granger (a character in Harry Potter). She loved dressing up like the characters and repeatedly wore her jumper with the Harry Potter school label on it. She was very good at annoying people by replying to people that said her name with, “I’m not Caatje, I’m Hermione Granger.” or any other character she liked best at that moment.  
This made me question why she loved Harry Potter so much. I think it’s because when she read the books it appealed to her very much making her long to be in this Harry Potter world herself. I’m sure everyone has admired something or someone a lot when you were little. Everyone does this, even adults. Adults, however, don’t admire a fictional character most of the time. People tend to admire things or people and let that influence themselves. Admiration can lead to actions of adaptation. It could be from the smallest things to the biggest like a hairstyle to a career. But all actions based on admiration shape who we are or become. My sister admired Harry Potter and adapted herself to become like the characters in the book, this could affect who she is in so many ways. The ways it impacts her might not be very significant, but they will still have some influence. For example, it might affect her personality to liking the UK over other countries (since that is where the stories are set), or she will like reading a lot because one of the characters in Harry Potter liked reading a lot too. 

Admiration is alike to envy. They are both a way of wanting to be like someone or something else. Though envying is a negative way of looking at someone and that will cause them to be mean and rude to the person they envy. And admiration is looking up to someone positively, wanting to be like them. According to Niels van de Ven, “The main finding is that envy and admiration both lead to a motivation to improve oneself.” Though, “...envy can lead to both a motivation to improve oneself and a motivation to pull down the envied other..." This proves that although envy and admiration is adapting yourself to be like a person, envying is also trying to bring the person you admire/envy down. 

Every person admires someone at some point. A great example of admiration in society is the bourgeoisie class. They are part of the middle class and admire the rich, aristocracy. Therefore, they adapt themselves to be like the aristocracy. You, as an individual, do it as well. For example, if you see how successful your boss is you might admire him/her and want to become like him/her. You will then improve yourself and start working hard. This could influence you, by making you a hard-working person (for example).  

Admiration builds your identity. Some people admire others a lot because they might not be very confident of themselves. Others might think that becoming like someone is what they need to do, but once they achieve their goal, they might not be very happy because they might not be sure about their identity. Many little kids may not be very good at distinguishing fantasy and reality apart because they use their imagination to let admiration influence them. My sister might be able to tell the difference between imagination and reality but just didn't want to, because the way she could become like Harry Potter characters was by using her imagination.