Good day to you all my tutors and learners here on hive.
I remain this humble soul who is always ready to appreciate my existence on the surface, once we realize that staying alive is never by our power or might then we know that all we have to do in life is to thank God for his mercy and grace over us.
We live in a world where a lot of things are happening, despite that one just has to live his/her life to the best of. Gone are the days when life was cool and peaceful to some extent. I remember days in this country when the highest currency was #200 naira and it was so scarce to get.
There were times when the naira and kobo were means of exchange for goods and services. What a peaceful existence. Not to talk of days when trade by barter was to exist. Back then they hoped the future would be brighter only if they could see what the future holds now. Everything changed and turned upside down.
I was in a taxi a few months ago when I got into a discussion with the taxi driver, he said if I would believe the days they bought cement for #38 and 2 tons (40 bags of cement) for #1500 naira. My lips ceased to close.
There was a video clip trending in the media a few days ago where a guy was interviewed about the present situation of the country. He said he worked hard for his money and now couldn’t have access to his hard-earned money. And all in all. He lamented on “PRESSURE” He said there is pressure in this country! We are being pressured, by the higher-ups, our government, and the wealthy ones.
Image sourced from canva and edited on canva app
This would take me straight to the prompt for week 48 edition 3 on the hive learners community and the topic to be discussed is PRESSURE.
We are in a country where there is a lot of pressure, physical, social, emotional, mentally, societally, among peer groups and many more.
But I would channel my discussion towards peer pressure, and this is because it has a lot to do with my present situation…
What is peer pressure?
I won’t be defining what it means or a grammatical definition of peer pressure, but peer pressure is when you hear the phrase “look at your mates” is that where they are? This set of words could come from anyone, it comes from parents to children, from children to parents, from bosses to their workers, from group mates to each other, from siblings, and many more.
Many times these words “look at your mates” have pushed a lot of people in the wrong direction and made them fall into a pit of no return. It has led a lot of youths astray making them involved with things that aren’t theirs. It has made a lot of people run beyond their time and get into unnecessary competition with themselves.
When we know that we all have different times in life, we won’t be freaked out by peer pressure. It would at some stage in our lives come at us, but being content and not comparing your day 1 to someone else's day 100 is what would pave the way from such pressure.
Fighting through peer pressure.
There was a day when my uncle called me aside and told me to look at his son and daughter, who were my cousin and age mates. He told me to look at where they are now. We graduated from secondary school at the same time but I went to teach in a primary school instead of me getting my way into the university.
He talked a lot about how well his children were performing compared to mine. And gave me some strange advice I can never take into consideration. I felt he already said his mind but that won’t change the fact that I would do what I want and become who I am.
I got depressed for some time and began to ponder his words though I never took them to heart that much. What he said might be true but I just won’t run a race that isn’t mine. I tried my best and put in more effort. But in the end, I got admitted.
There are many instances whereby comparing people with others is of big risk. But it is okay to look forward to being like someone and work towards that. Having a mentor or a role model is perfectly fine.
Peer pressure has made some youths nowadays go into fraud and cybercrime. All in the name of wanting to be like my friend, I want to be better than him. Only if they knew that we all have our different paces in life.
Got pressured by your peer groups?
Just relax, and focus on yourself. Never desist from doing what you love doing. Remain consistent and hardworking while channeling all that energy towards getting better. With time you realize you would be better and great at what you do and those peer groups of yours might come looking up to you.
