Peer Pressure? Is it good or bad?

Before 2018, I did not know what was peer pressure. I came to know it when I was asked to give a lecture on this topic by the college to newly admitted students mandated by AICTE. I did research online. I studied many texts and watched many videos online to gather materials. I could gather some points from the US state department that issued the video for school children. The points were powerful. It helped me a lot. I hoped students also liked it.

Peer pressure

In my view, there are two types of peer pressure; positive and negative. Positive one pushes you in the right direction to achieve more and negative one derails your life from the track. Why do we feel peer pressure? It comes to everyone naturally. We, humans, are social. We are impacted by society. Whenever we meet people or follow personalities, we are influenced by them to some extent each time. It may not be overnight but it happens slowly. We feel that we too need to do something like this like him. Once this comes to your mind, you are having peer pressure. It is something you get from your peers in a nutshell. Very simply, I can put this way. Suppose, you are very much impressed by the topper in the class. When you observe him, you too feel in the back of your mind that I need to gear up and focus on your academics. This is positive peer pressure. You are getting a little bit of jolt to perform well in the future. You want to have recognition like him. Positive peer pressure helps to achieve higher things in life. On the other hand, there are hundreds of examples of negative peer pressure. The negative ones do not help anything. Suppose you have formed a bike gang. Your friends force you to buy an expensive bike. You want to get into that gang of yours. You buy expensive bikes with your parents’ money. Otherwise, you make hue and cry. You drive at 100 plus speed without a helmet. You end up having an accident. You kill somebody in the accident. Thereafter, you live in guilt. We are humans. We need to rise with our deeds. There are many things to be explored and experienced. Whenever you feel the urge of doing something, you always check whether you are under positive peer pressure or negative peer pressure. You need to rethink your decisions. Always look before you leap.

Work life stress and anxiety

When I visited North Bengal University, West Bengal in 2017, I came to know various techniques to counter stress and anxiety. I have noticed that stress in student life is very common. One needs to understand the symptoms and find the way. Stress generally occurs when you accumulate your academic work and any kind of activities which you need to do in time. But, often, we are not able to maintain the deadline and feel stressed. You could lose weight or gain weight, lose peace of mind or you may have any other kind of physical condition. Such physical condition further disables you and lowers your productivity. There is only one remedy is the regularity in activities. Recall your childhood days. How did you enjoy every festival, every cricket game despite having a hectic school schedule? You led a worry-free life. That was only because you maintained regularity in your studies knowingly or unknowingly. Your parents kept you under control in those days. Once you are in college, the control loses to some extent. Because you start living hostel life or parents unable to watch over you due to educational limitations. Therefore, self-control is a must. I have tried some suggestions myself. You can follow.

(1) Regularity: Study regularly or do your activities needed to be done. If you are preparing for some exam, you have lost touch then start to study the subject for half an hour each day for a week and then gradually increase the hours. For college students, one needs to complete whatever has been taught each day. This way, you maintain with the syllabus. Revise everything for the weekend.

(2) Don’t pile up: We have the habit of piling up the things we don’t like. Generally, we like to do all the fun things and pile up our studies or academic activities. This pile becomes a mountain and cannot be moved in one day. Then we lose sleep and peace of mind. Therefore, it may be difficult but don’t pile up.

(3) Strict schedule: Maintain a strict schedule for any kind of activity. Once you are habituated to it, you will find it no longer difficult. You will lead a free worry-free life.