Societal pressure is the standard, influence, expectations, and norms that society imposes on individuals without caring about their opinions. While in a few cases it could be good as it pushes someone to achieve what they're not doing right, in most cases it's wrong and could go on to be detrimental to the individual who's a victim of such pressure, and when we talk of someone who goes through this, I can categorize say I'm probably among the top in my society.
Yes, you read that right. I said I could be placed among the top people who are under these pressures because I literally go through them every single day. In fact, to make it much more understandable, I literally just concluded a conversation that was related to this pressure channel towards me, and while writing this article, I still got a call that was focused on it, and I had to come back to editing this paragraph to give you a picture of what I go through daily.
If I told you they don't get to me, I'd be lying because even though I've built a wall around me to help combat these pressures, I still one way or another had to deal with the thought because it literally came crashing on me almost everywhere I find myself both online and offline, and sometimes I wish I could just shout on everyone to shut the fuck up because I own my life and I'm old enough to decide what I want and don't want.
You might be wondering what this pressure could be, and for this guy to use the F word, he must have been fed up with going through it daily. Well, that's true; I'm fed up, and I wish I could just wipe everyone's memory so they can let me be and converse with me without having to remind me of what I should have done, what they think I should do, what I'm missing, and the like, for not doing what society expected me to have done at my age.
Well, without beating around the bush, the societal pressure I'm taking about is none other than the one that has to do with marriage: when to get married, what I'm missing from not getting married, and what I would miss from getting married late. While I understand that these people loved me and wanted the best for me, I think they also need to realize I'm old enough, know what I want, and would get married at the right time if I felt like it.
I mean, for crying out loud, getting married isn't a must; it isn't the yardstick to succeed or amount to something meaningful in society, and after all, it's not like I detest marriage; it's just that I've not met anyone I can say I truly love, and the last thing I'll want to do is get married to someone I don't love or married out of pressure from society.
Because if I were to do that, I can categorizely tell you that such a home won't last, and that's because there are many things that keep marriage going, and some of the most important in my understanding are love, communication, and perseverance. For someone like me who hasn't found someone I love, going into a marriage would be a disaster.
Because there's no way the home can progress when there's no love, communication can't flourish when there's no history of love. When love fails, it's the past history of friendship and love that helps you stay on track to communicate and preserve it, making sure such a home doesn't crumble when it stands the test of time.
Talking about whether I'd give in to this pressure or deal with it, I'll suggest you read these two recent experiences I've had. You can imagine that each time we've had a new female staff member join our work place, you'll hear my colleagues enquiring from them if they're married or not, and if they weren't, the next thing is that you'll see them pointing towards me, saying that there's a good man and he's single. I just smile in embarrassment and continue with my life.
Lols, I just remembered another such situation that happened two days ago. Our vice principal walked up to me when I stepped out of the class and was like, See that student teacher working under you? She's single. What are you doing with your life? And I was just smiling sheepishly, like, What's all this for crying out loud? I just told her I've heard and will do something about it, even though I know deep within me that I won't be doing anything.
So personally, when it comes to how I deal with this pressure, I really don't do much because I'm literally tired of going through it on a daily basis, and most of the time, what I just do is tell them what they want to hear, like, "Okay, alright, thank you; I've heard and would work on what they suggested. At least this gives them some form of assurance that they've been able to convince me, even though I know deep within me that I only said that to get ripped off of them.
That's all about my situation and how I deal with societal pressure. I hope you not only enjoyed the read but also learned something, and if you're among those who pressure others, I'll advise you to desist from mounting societal pressure on those around you. The situation in the world is enough to deal with, so why add your own pressures to the list?
Thanks for your time. Have a wonderful day ahead.
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