Peer Pressure

Peer pressure is a thing we all face in our everyday activities. It is a feeling that one must do the same thing as other people of one’s age and social group in order to be liked or respected by them. Everyone deals with Peer Pressure, it is everywhere, starting from your environment, to high school, college, work place, social media.

My first experience was when I got admission into high school, I was a dark-skinned girl and any time we go home for holidays, the moment I get back my friends would say “you are darker, tee”, it always made me feel somehow to walk with them, I will get Funbact A (a tube cream with hydroquinone, it lightens the face). Even in high school if a queen was to be chosen for inter-house sport it is always a light skinned girl they chose and I was convinced that to be beautiful I needed to be light-skinned.
If you look into the world today both men and women are bleaching their skin just to fit in. If you are too dark, the world makes you think it’s a disease, some would even say I was once your skin tone LOL.

The other one is body size, The fat ones doesn’t have a voice of their own. The moment anyone see you out there they start comparing that body shape with yours, I often hear “oh! She’s fatter than I am or too thin” Then we start feeling down and hating ourselves. So many ladies don’t like their body shapes and for that they hate themselves and start comparing themselves with Instagram babes. Most girls with big booty on Instagram are not even like that in real life, but we keep beating ourselves up. We are punishing ourselves, asking ourselves why our faces aren’t that smooth over a picture that has been filtered over 20 times before it was posted.

Some of us were raised by good parents and from a good home, but the moment we get into college a lot of things change about us. I face lot of peer pressure on campus, I see girls like me driving big cars, wearing bone straight( a hair attachment) using latest iPhones( Apple phone products), there are always clique on campus too even in the department there’s “the rich girls association” and “the poor girls association”with a social class barrier between these two. These are things parents are not even aware of, most parents need to start thanking God for the decision some kids made in school.

Clothing is the third one: This affect girls generally, some will go to clothes vendors to buy clothes on credit just because you’re going to an event and you don’t want to wear your old clothes, this is something we all need to stop. Fake life is what everybody is doing now just to impress your peers or for them to hail you. You’re living extravagantly just to be noticed by people who doesn’t even care about you. Stop it!.
I also think learning to say ‘NO’ is something we should all learn. Learn to say NO when you don’t want something. You don’t have to agree to everything they bring to you, if you do not want it then say NO, stop proving them wrong in the name of I want to be among my peers. Whatever work for them might not work for you. Always wait for your time, I know this might be hard but it’s something we all pass through, stop looking at someone else’s watch, look at yours.
Self love is also important. You’re never too young or too old to start your journey of self love. You just have to tell yourself you love everything you’re struggling to love.
You also need to spend time alone because a lot of people can’t turn off the noise from others and the noise in their heads, you have to practice mindfulness and spending time on your own listening to your own voice and speaking to yourself. Unlearn everything they’ve used to define you and find who you truly are.
Run away from things you know you can’t handle and Embrace things that makes you feel good.
As the wise man said, cut your coat according to your size.