Peer Pressure Essay, Research Paper

Chris Clay English 300Peer Pressure Peer pressure is one of the biggest battles that I had to fight while I was in high school. Peer pressure effects may teens around the world, some good and some bad. Peer pressure effected my life in a not so good way, but changed my life for the better and helped me realize that it is easy to say no. While in high school, I was pressured alot especially during my under classmen years. I was just starting to get in the crowd and hang out with the upper classman and get involved with high schoolsports. It was on this one night when peer pressure effected me and changed my life for the worst and the better. Everyone was going over to a friend’s house one night after a home football game and I was invited to hang out. I arrived and they were all joking around and just talking. I noticed that all of them were drinking and the next thing I know they are asking me if I would like a beer. Taking a quick glance around the room, I didn’t see anyone without a beer so I took the beer so I wouldn’t look like the weird one. I remeber the first taste of that beer, bitter, yet I tried to swallow it with ease and trying to act like I enjoyed it. After drinking to many that night, I was considered cool by the upper classman. I was finally in the crowd and known of. After that night when the upper classmen peer pressured me to drink, I felt obligated to drink in order to stay cool, but then starting to like to drink. After that one night when the upper classmen peer pressured me into drinking, I started to drink often and often taking it overboard and not knowing when to stop. Although, peer pressure gave me a very bad habit it also helped me get out of the habit of drinking all the time and stop taking it overboard. I was finally and upper classmen and in the middle of the year I meet this great friend. We started hanging out and doing things together and going to parties. I was still drinking at the time, but then I noticed that at the partied, my friend would simply say no if they didn’t want to drink. They still got treated the same and wasn’t bothered by anyone because they decided not to drink. My friend started to tell me that I needed to cool it with the drinking and told me that I need to stop drinking. They also told me that there were better things that you could do and that you could still have fun without drinking. They opened my eyes and kinda peer pressured or influenced me to stop drinking so much, hardly at all. They helped me get back on the right path. Peer Pressure influenced my life in a good way and in a bad way. I learned many things through peer pressure that I still hold onto and look back upon until this day.