Peer pressure might not always be obvious to you. It’s not uncommon for a group of friends to have particular habits or activities that they do together. But when you’re with a different group of friends, it might be unlikely that you do those same things.
Peer pressure can be as simple and direct as someone telling you what to do. It might be a good idea to talk to someone you trust if you feel threatened, or if you are being hurt or pressured into something you don’t want to do.
A good way to distract yourself productively is to do something to better organise your life. Tidy your living or working spaces, your computer, your wardrobe or schedule regular exercise into your life. Cleaning your house can feel incredibly empowering.
Find a personally appropriate balance between dealing directly with negative feelings and moods, and escaping from them, in order to have the best chance of healing.
We can get caught up in our secondary emotions around pain such as anger or anxiety, while blocking our most primary and important feelings, such as hurt or sadness. Sometimes you can experience relief when allowing your most primary and painful emotions to express themselves.
Focus on where you are now. What have you overcome? What resources have you used to get past the pain? Rather than venting, sink deeper into your most primary feelings about the situation and allow yourself to really experience them.
Peer pressure can be present at school or within a broader community. It can affect people of all ages and backgrounds. Peer pressure can affect you in a number of different ways: directly, indirectly or pressure from yourself.
Peer pressure might influence you in a number of ways, including: fashion choices; alcohol and drug use; decision to have a boyfriend or girlfriend; choice of who your friends are; academic performance.
A certain amount of learning to accept negative emotions is healing. The less you struggle against negative emotions, the less you have to feel badly about. At the same time, sometimes negative emotions can be overwhelming, and you really need a break from them.
“Distraction” goes against normal wisdom – that you have to face your troubling emotions before you can escape them. Distraction is nothing more than a temporary respite from negative moods. It isn’t a permanent fix and shouldn’t be thought of as one.