vīˈkerēəs, adjective
experienced in the imagination through the feelings or actions of another person.
Who do you live vicariously through?
What do you see other people do that you wish/hope you could do? Why don't you do it yourself?
A lot of people spend their entire lives living through the actions/thoughts/words of others. We follow the actions of people who take the risks we wont take, who say the things we wont say, who live the life we aren't living. The only real difference between the followers and the followed is not talent, or connections, or where they started out (though these are the common reasons most offer and think about).
The difference is that the followed people take the risks and chances that the followers pass up. You -- the reader -- you have passed up a risk today in some way, shape or form. You passed on a chance that someone else took because you were afraid of the possible ramifications of that chance (not always a bad thing, but probably 9 times out of 10 your fears are way bigger than the reality). You stopped short because you didn't want to go past your normal place or above your normal level. You thought twice about what other people might say or think or feel about you. We live vicariously through people because watching them lets us imagine what life would be like if we removed all of our limiting inhibitions. The inhibitions are the only thing keeping us as the followers instead of the followed. The only thing.
Those people you follow? They don't have that problem.
#WorkOnYourGame