Hello, I am a young person with many ambitions and also carry a lot of pressure with me. I used to try to follow the so-called "norms" from the words around. I forced and even hurt my own soul because of my desire to fit in and lack of confidence in myself.
“Peer pressure” taught me more than I thought. It's like you're dealing with a virus and what you need to do is make a vaccine specific to that virus. It is a process because viruses can mutate, they are challenging and give us memorable experiences in this life.
And here is my journey to find the cure.
I was fortunate to be born in a family where my father and mother were both teachers. I consider it happiness because this is a noble profession among noble professions, I am extremely proud and respectful of my parents' profession. But you know what? Behind that curtain exist invisible prejudices that I have to face.
When I entered 1st grade, I was always scared with the scene that every day I had to bring my two children's notebooks up to see who could write better, it was me - a teacher's child or other friends. I do not understand
When I entered middle school, my parents' colleagues kept asking about my GPA and comparing it to their children's.” I do not understand, too
When I was about to take the entrance exam to high school, the specialized school was like a benchmark of competency, so I also have to do it...
My life is like a pre-programmed because I am simply a teacher's child and they think that if I am inferior to their children in any way, I am a failure, incompetent. No one told me directly, but I knew that I had to be as good as Miss A's child, and I had to be on par with teacher B's grandson. Then one day, I heard kind words from my parents. They are teachers but they can give me a cure for this terrible disease. My parents understand the challenges that I have had to overcome for so long when being labeled as a "child of a teacher".
My father said, “If you consider peer pressure to be a virus, you still need to find antibodies against it, but don't forget to strengthen your own immunity, girl. ”
At that moment, I wanted to scream, I finally understood what I needed to do. Why do I keep looking for solutions from others but never listen to me? Why don't I give myself a tough cover to fight the "virus"?
I began to take the seemingly default words out of my ears and make room for my own thoughts to flow. I still keep trying, but not for the sake of losing to anyone, but to surpass yesterday's self. Suddenly I feel my life is so beautiful, this is what belongs to me, is what I desire. In the morning, I took a deep breath after a good night's sleep without having to struggle with my grades with my classmates. At night, I relax listening to my favorite tunes, not listening to the achievements that my colleague tells my mother about her child. That is to increase your own "resistance".
Not only that, even though I'm strong, sometimes for some reason, I bump into this virus. Then I started making friends with it. It sounds ridiculous right when I've been trying to get rid of them ever since. But what if we tried to face them once. Looking through a positive lens, “peer pressure” is a great source of motivation for us to strive every day, every hour. It would be great if we knew how to listen and refine the opinions of those around us.
All of us here have at least once in our lives exaggerated collectivism. Everything around if there are many supporters will always be right and we have to force ourselves to do the same. I don't think so, for me, the collective spirit is really good but doesn't let it distort people, don't let it interfere too much in our private lives.
The last thing, I want to remind those who have been and are going through the journey of fighting with "peer pressure" like me that: "Every problem has a solution, everything in this world appears with a reason. its own reasons and your job is to believe in your abilities, love yourself, and understand yourself. Today I bring you a vial of the vaccine, the activity of which will be different for each person, but I believe it will be able to kill this virus or if not, it will inactivate them and give you overflowing energy. From there, I hope you will strongly stand up to defend your own values.
Since no one is the standard for your life, don't compare, smile, and rise up.
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