Dealing With Peer Pressure

Peer pressure is the influence that other people may extend on you, for example by forcing you to do something you normally wouldn’t have done. These kinds of actions are usually condoned as negative actions. 

However, that is not always the case. It depends on ‘who’ a person is befriending or which group of people they are hanging around. Often, being around good company encourages people to study more, work earnestly, and live in a more altruistic way.

However, it is not easy for many teenagers to be able to identify ‘good’ or ‘bad’ company nowadays, especially due to social media and popular trends glorifying morally reprehensible actions, thus making it confusing for kids and teenagers nowadays to figure out what they really want to be like.

In these confusing stages, teenagers may also be groped by certain groups of friends that end up being very harmful for their mental and physical well-being. They may be pressured to partake in activities they do not want to do themselves. However, this human need for social connectivity and feeling accepted by others harbours teenagers into doing exactly as they please. 

Many people end up feeling mentally exhausted in this constant tug-of-war of having to choose between being yourself or conforming to others standards.

Additionally, even after wanting to get out of such a hole, it can be very difficult to learn how to say ‘no’ to people that walk over you all the time. You may fear many things such as being alone, or called names, or made fun of if you choose to finally voice your opinion. Alternatively, you may feel even awkward for suddenly backing out of a harmful friend group for the fear of being called a hypocrite.

However, the point of the post is to remind whoever’s reading that it is never uncool or awkward to stand up for yourself, voice your opinions, or be brave enough to back out of a place you didn’t want to be in the first place. It may ‘hurt’ the feelings of hypocritical friends, or relatives, or any random person, but we can’t really take care of others by wounding ourselves, especially not for such ‘friends’.

Also, it really isn’t that difficult to back out of a friend group. The first step may seem daunting and insurmountable, but once you take it, you realise that that's all there was to it. You don’t have to do something big and rowdy, just:

• Stop replying to texts immediately and constantly being active in the group chat.

• Have minimal conversations during classes.

• Stay busy during recess or breaks such as studying in the library

• Try talking to new people, who feel more to you like yourself

• Don’t meet up after school.

• Don't make plans with them.

• Immerse yourself in new hobbies that align with who you are, like try playing golf, learning how to code, or maybe become a student of crocheting. These will help you stay busy physically and mentally allowing you to not have negative thoughts constantly hover over you.

• Finally, be open and vocal about your freedom to choose what activities you want to partake in.

As somebody in her last year of schooling, if it's one thing I can share, it's that people who do not value you or show effort to learn what you really think, aren't truly your friends. Friends care about each other's feelings, mood, opinions, and consent. Thus, you should NOT feel guilty for backing out of a friend group even if they only have one bad habit.

Remember, you have to develop the mental toughness to be able to stand up to bullies by just saying “No” and “I won’t because I don't want to” if you want to survive in this world. Being kind and encouraging is important but not at the cost of your physical and mental well-being. Being brave and being real in this world of filters is more important than being a weak nutshell of yourself. You can also end up becoming a role-model to others in order to showcase that it is our right to condone and distance ourselves from bad activities even if social media praises that. Try to be your own hero, and inspire others to be aswell.