PEER PRESSURE

PEER PRESSURE

        In today’s world of modernisation, peer pressure is a common problem especially among teenagers and youths as the younger group of people are likely to be influenced by others. Peer pressure can be simply be defined as influence from a certain peer group and the word peer refers to people of the same age. So basically, peer pressure comes from people of the same age group who influence other people who are the same age. Peer pressure has many effects that depend on the characteristics of the peer group such as the behaviour, ability to make decisions and awareness of their actions. Some of these effects can be positive while other effects can be negative and these effects can be long term. We humans are easily influenced by others therefore it is important to choose the right people to socialise with or else negative influences from peer pressure will get the better of us.

          Peer pressure in teenagers is one of the biggest issues for adolescents because they are still young and can’t make proper decisions. Friends of the same age often times encourage each other to try a new activity and many of these new activities are dangerous or simply wrong to do. For instance, a teenager influences his friend to smoke and do drug abuse because to him, it’s fun while his friend doesn’t want to be left out so he ends up following that teenager. The unstable emotions of teenagers make it difficult for them to make rational decisions so they end up getting heavily influenced by their peer group and often times getting into trouble. It is a normal situation for any teenager to get influenced by his or her peers and he or she would just follow what his or her friends urge them to do. Teenagers don’t want to feel alone, left out, and all by themselves so they will start influencing each other in order to stay socialised. 

          Even when it comes to serious matters, such as studies and work, we still get influenced by our peers even though we are certain of our own decisions. Some students influence other students and tell them that studying too much is bad even though to them, studying for long hours is a normal thing to do. Each individual has his or her own way of carrying out their tasks and they should not get heavily influenced by their peers who are just trying to bring them down. For example, a student who is serious and focused in his studies should not get influenced from another student who is playful even if he is smarter. Some people use peer pressure to bring down another person, especially if the other person is a rival and in this case peer pressure becomes a weapon. This can be shown when a hardworking person is being influenced by his peer who urges and encourages him to become a slacker indirectly. A good example would be when a person encourages his ‘friend’ who is hardworking to watch a movie during the time he should be studying. This is when peer pressure is used as a hidden weapon to bring down others.  

          Sometimes, we follow our peer group’s decisions because we are stressed up and in need of socialising and some entertainment. There are times when the working or studying environment gets really tough to handle and we feel like we just want to break free from the walls of school and office. In these situations, peer pressure starts kicking in when others start influencing us in many ways that seem to help us. We might end up loitering or wasting time at a shopping mall but for most people, this is the golden moment to be spent with their peers. However, if the peer pressure is not managed properly, we will be using our peer’s influence to benefit ourselves in bad ways. For example, after studying for long hours throughout the whole week, we get influenced by our peers to watch a movie in a theatre but we might spend more than enough time there just to entertain ourselves excessively. This could result into ourselves procrastinating and wasting a lot of time. 

          Peer pressure is also caused due to the need to socialise well with others. Many young people enjoy socialising with others who are materialistic, and choosy about the way their peers act. This is the reason why many youngsters are obsessed with anything that is popular in pop culture such as communication technology, fashion and entertainment. All of these forms of pop culture are driving youngsters into influencing each other through peer pressure and many youngsters compete to be popular and socially accepted by their peers. The youngsters of today are so interested in pop culture that they tend to forget their priorities such as work, studies and behaviour. Some youngsters will do anything to get accepted by their friends thanks to peer pressure and they will end up committing crimes. The peer pressure affects the psychology of the people as they will compete in order to be able to socialise and be accepted by their friends of the same age. This kind of competition is unhealthy as there is no need to compete to be accepted by friends as real friends will accept the people they can trust and not those who are interested in being popular.

          To summarise my explanation on peer pressure, it is important that we avoid negative influences from our peers as these influences will affect our thinking. We have to stay focused on our dreams and goals so that we can block the influences from our peers. The best way is to keep an eye on the goals we desire and to keep on working until we achieve them without the need of bad influences from our peers. Although our peers are still our friends, we must be aware of their bad influences that they will try to rub on us.

STAYING OPTIMISTIC

STAYING OPTIMISTIC

           All of us have heard about people who gave up in the middle of their journeys to success and it’s sad because these people didn’t continue their important journeys as they were probably so close to achieving them. In our lives, we encounter various problems and dilemmas that require good decision making. As soon as we make a choice we have to carry out the decision properly or else we will end up regretting it. Regret is bad as it ruins our confidence in making proper decisions the next time we encounter a dilemma. This is where optimism comes in handy as through optimism, the effects of regret will not be so bad and mind-bothering. Optimism is basically the ability to stay positive for any situation including the bad and tough situations and it is extremely important as we grow older because we will encounter situations with ever increasing difficulty.

          We have to stay optimistic in order to maintain a positive-thinking mind so that we are emotionally ready to encounter whatever challenges God throws at us. If we do not stay optimistic, giving up becomes an action to be done in any challenge and this certainly will not make us productive. An individual will never know unless he or she tries therefore optimism is needed to enable the individual to try taking up a certain challenge. However, to be successful in a task or challenge, one must stay constantly optimistic because he or she will find a way to be successful even it if takes a very long time. An individual who stays optimistic is happy and he or she who achieves his or her goals will be as happy as a king if he or she uses optimism as the key to success. For example, a student who achieves straight A’s in his General Certificate of Education (GCE) examinations uses optimism as an important tool to achieve this. Even if the situation is too tough to handle, optimism is the fuel that keeps us positive to endure it.   

          To stay optimistic, we have to keep thinking about the good possibilities and always remain thinking positive at all times. Whenever we encounter a certain situation or challenge that is too difficult or too tough, we must remember that anything is possible with effort and patience. Secondly, we must remember the reason we took up the challenge because this will remind us why we started in the first place therefore by doing this, we will feel the importance of taking up the challenge. A good example to reflect this situation is Michael Faraday, an English scientist who remembered the reason he wanted to meet and convince the other scientists during a science convention about his findings of a certain experiment. He remembered that he wanted to prove his discovery of electromagnetism and how it works so that the understanding of physics will change forever. He had a simple background but his optimism allowed him to become an important physicist. He also kept thinking of the possibilities of his electromagnetism discovery and his discovery became famous and important in today’s physics. This proves that we have to believe and work for our dreams to be achieved and by believing in our dreams, we are able to stay optimistic. 

          There are various situations and times where we have to stay optimistic so we can avoid unnecessary doubts and negative thoughts of the outcomes. In times of sadness and sorrow, the need to stay optimistic is a lot because when we are sad or depressed, staying optimistic helps us to control our sadness and depression. A death of a relative or a close friend can really bring us down but we have to remain as optimistic as we can so we can avoid constant sadness for a long period of time. During a football tournament, we should stay optimistic to gain confidence in winning the competition and by staying optimistic, we can find a sense of hope in achieving the target. When a close friend departs to another country because he needs to further his studies, we should stay optimistic so that we don’t feel lonely because if we stay optimistic there will always be hope. When the examinations are near, stay optimistic and have the ‘I can do it’ spirit because this will reduce the chances of feeling nervous and anxious. Before a performance, we must remain optimistic to help us feel confident in giving our best shot at the stage.

          Many famous people in the world use optimism as a secret for their success including scientists, singers, politicians, and sportsmen. The scientist Albert Einstein stayed optimistic and came out with the quote ‘knowledge is limited, but imagination encircles the world’ which allowed him to create the famous equation E=mc^2 (energy equals to mass multiplied by the speed of light squared). Dave Grohl stayed optimistic after Nirvana broke up because the singer killed himself, and because of his optimism Dave continued his passion as a musician and founded Foo Fighters. Abraham Lincoln didn’t come from an easy living family but his optimism helped him become the president of the United States of America. Lionel Messi of the Argentina National Football Team stayed optimistic when he played for the team during the 2014 FIFA World Cup and he is still optimistic even after his team lost to the Germany National Football Team. These people are just a few examples of many successful people who used optimism as a tool for their success.

          As a conclusion, optimism is a great and important tool to achieve our goals in life as well as helping us to stay hopeful. Optimism is what keeps us positively motivated to do our daily tasks regardless of the difficulty. Through strong optimism, we can be successful in our lives, not just in our studies or work, but also in our thinking.