Peer pressure; we’ve all heard the term, but have we all been victims of it? High school and college are the places that it seems most likely to occur, especially when it comes to drugs, alcohol, and other things of that nature. However, while most parents probably disagree, at the end of the day, it is your choice whether or not you do it, and nobody can make you do anything.

In my experience, nobody really cares if you drink, smoke, or not. I have friends who choose to partake in such activities, and never once have any of them told me that I should do it or even question me as to why I don’t. And I even asked them if they did it because all their friends did it or because they felt like they had to, and the answer is always no. They do it because they want to.

Even while put into a situation where people were trying to pressure me into something, you can easily get out it. Walk away, go somewhere else, or just keep saying no until they stop bothering you. I feel like people who claim to have done something due to peer pressure had a small part of them that wanted to do it. If they were truly passionate about not doing it at all, they wouldn’t.

The point is, nobody’s forcing you to do this or do that. No matter how many of your friends do it or how bad they want you to try, nobody can control you besides yourself. The decision will always be yours and nobody else’s.