My Ultimate “Roman Empires”

The remnants of Roman structures, relating to our own mental  “Roman Empires.” photo by Getty Images

A popular trend on TikTok has caused a ripple effect of many people wanting to figure out and share their most recurring thoughts.

Over the past couple months, users on TikTok have theorized that men think about the Roman Empire on a consistent, almost daily, basis. From this stemmed a new trend – users have begun sharing their individual “Roman Empires,” representing a topic or event that they think about frequently. I have found that I actually have many. This is a list of my top 19 “Roman Empires.” 

• Getting my achilles cut by someone hiding underneath a car and kidnapping me.
  • I saw a video once about this happening to other women and I have been chilled by the idea since. 
• What my life would’ve been like if I didn’t move houses and schools in the 5th grade.
  • I wonder about who I would’ve become and if I would be different in a good or bad way. 
• The death of one of my childhood friends.
  • It is still a mystery of why she died, and I wonder about what she was thinking in her last moments and what truly happened.
• How mirrors are made.
  • This is confusing to me… how do you make such a perfectly reflective surface. It just makes my thoughts go crazy. 
• What other people think of me or how they perceive me.
  • I think often about how I look to others and if people have secret opinions about me. 
• The future (primarily college).
  • I wonder a lot about what I will eventually end up choosing to do. I think about May of 2024 and I wonder what my friends and I will be pursuing. 
• Kendall Jenner not being able to cut a cucumber.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmoUmhzeiZE
  • Everytime I cut something, I think about how miserable she looked cutting that cucumber. 
• The picture of Phoebe Bridgers, Paul Mescal, and Daisy Edgar Jones and how that shows the experience of a toxic relationship.
  • Essentially, in the photo, Phoebe Bridgers is looking at Paul Mescal while he is looking at Daisy Edgar Jones. There is a lot behind the scenes, but at its core, the picture shows how Mescal lied to Bridgers and might truly still have feelings for Jones. Fans felt for Bridgers because people were already aware of her insecurities about Jones. This just shows that their relationship is toxic, as Mescal most likely has feelings towards Jones. More often than not, I think about how it would feel to be in Bridger’s shoes. Overall, I just wonder how looking back at those pictures made her feel. 
• How the universe is constantly growing.
  • The idea that everything is growing every second creeps me out. While we are doing mundane daily activities, the universe is growing and evolving. It just puts so much about my tiny life into perspective.
• Tom Holland doing the lip sync to Umbrella.
  • Tom Holland had such a good performance that I actually am still in disbelief and weirdly, I think about it often. 
• Going off the grid and traveling for the rest of my life.
  • I feel like it would bring me so much joy to release all my responsibilities and just backpack around the world. I think about doing this all the time. 
• The Titanic.
  • The Titanic was such an interesting moment in history, and there are so many conspiracy theories around the ship. I think about if they are true or not pretty consistently. 
• What my future apartment will look like/where it will be.
  • Since I don’t know where I’m gonna be in a year, I find it fun to think about all of the possibilities. 
• If Tupac is actually dead.
  • There is a lot of speculation around this topic, and it goes pretty deep. Some things just don’t add up about his death. 
• June 22nd and 23rd of 2023
  • These days were the happiest days of my life. I won’t go into detail, but I will remember these days so vividly for the rest of my life. 
• What it would feel like to be crazy rich and if that would actually shift my happiness levels.
  • The saying “money doesn’t buy happiness” just doesn’t seem that true. I think I’d be pretty happy if I had millions of dollars. I just want to know how it feels at some point. 
• What actually happened to Princess Diana and Marilyn Monroe and what everything would be like if they were still alive.
  • Both of these beautiful women deserved to live happier and longer lives. I feel like their deaths were so impactful and I think about how different everything would be like if they lived longer. 
• What will happen to everyone after high school (will one of us become famous or something?).
  • I can’t wait to look back 20 years from now and connect the dots about these people I know. I just think it will be interesting to watch everyone’s lives unfold. 
• The butterfly effect.
  • This is the one I think about the most. At its core, it means that small choices we make can affect larger events later on. So maybe, turning left instead of right will change your life in ways we can’t comprehend. I love it.