The frequency illusion. Why everyone is copying me?

You decide to take up pottery on a quiet Saturday, or maybe you picked a rare language to learn. 

You feel the excitement of the novelty, and believe that you have come across a skill that will make you stand out.
After a few days that new activity seems to be everywhere. 

Your friend casually mentions that they have been practising that language for months and you see a colleague holding a grammar book that looks exactly like the one you have just bought. 

It feels as though someone asked the rest of humanity to emulate your choice.
This uncanny sensation is known as the frequency illusion. The reality is that people around were already learning that language, your brain simply filtered out that information and discarded because of its irrelevance. 

The moment you started learning, your ability to notice readjusted itself to include that new endeavour, and your mind assigned a high priority to that new skill.

It caused your selective attention to notice elements related to that language in your environment and bring them to your attention.

The confirmation bias, which causes you to believe any happenings that agrees with you preconceived ideas, deepens the illusion. 

Every time you see someone engaged in learning that new skill, it reinforces the feeling that it is a collective trend.

You have completely discarded the enormous mass of people who are not even aware that that language exists.
It feels as if everyone suddenly decided to copy your idea, and that tells us an important story.
Everything you need and will ever need is around you, waiting for you to pay attention to it.