If you are a young a person who has experienced peer pressure you are not certainly alone. These days, its often feels like we cannot escape it.
From my own experience, I have seen how peer pressure affects people at school, college university and beyond into adult life. When I was at school, I struggled to shake the overwhelming feeling that I saw somehow lagging behind everyone else. I could not understand it. I liked my friends and enjoyed socializing, but often felt I was still missing out. I was confused that my peers had bigger friendship circles, went out more, partied harder, stayed up later, dressed cooler, drank more, and had more partners.
I remember being so wrapped up in the idea that I was somehow falling short because I was not exactly like them. Even now, I can still recall times when I was so desperate to be more like my peers. I was putting myself in uncomfortable situations just so that I could feel accepted by them. I did not realize how peer pressure was affecting me, but it was affecting me in a number of ways -low mood, tearfulness and changes in behavior.
Now aged 23, I am still learning how to manage peer pressure from my peers. It can be easy to get lost in a world where we are trying to keep up with everyone around us. Take it from someone who knows.
To be honest, peer pressure is not something we learn to manage rather than avoid. If you can learn just a few small but effective ways to handle peer pressure, then you will be in a much better place to deal with those tricky situations that life might throw at you.
There are several ways to deal with this uncomfortable feeling, but sometimes finding these ways can be quite challenging.
Talking to someone like a parent or a guardian is of great help. Parents will always give the best advice on any subject. They give personalized advice on how you can deal with this. It might be a bit intimidating to talk to your parents or guardians but just be completely open to them. If you can learn a just few small but effective ways to handle peer pressure, then you will be in much better place to deal with those tricky situations that life might throw at you.
Its important to have your own sense of right and wrong. make your own judgements and if you feel something isn’t right follow your senses. If you ever feel like you are being pressured into making a decision, use common sense and make sure you do what feels right.
If you ever had any doubts about your decisions, do ask a person you totally trust. Doing this not only gives more control over what’s going on, but also instills confidence in you.
If peer pressure is continuing to be an issue and the same people are causing it, it is healthy choice to make new group of friends.This can feel tough at the start as it is not always easy to start afresh with new set of friends. To make this easier, I tired meeting people who have similar interests like me. This helped me settle with new groups of friends better. When meeting new people, I also found it helpful to join in on their conversations politely. What I learned is that my fear of making new friends was just in my head.
Be confident and slowly you will start feeling comfortable. Taking the first step is always the hardest part of the journey. So, dealing with peer pressure might seem impossible but it isn’t. There are some of the most effective ways that have immensely benefited me in dealing with negative peer pressure. Finding the right friends has been rally important and once I did everything seemed much easier.
Recognizing peer pressure from the start is vital. This way I can deal with it quicker. All I do is trust my mind and I feel confident I won’t go wrong.
BY DANIEL ARAKA, Second Year Student pursuing Accounting degree in Chuka University
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