You’d be forgiven for thinking that once you’d left high school, you’d also left peer pressure behind – but the reality is that peer pressure is something that affects us all to some extent, throughout our lives.
Peer Pressure as a Young Woman
At teacher’s college, I was in a crowd that valued good marks – not a bad thing to have that sort of peer pressure, when you think about it 😉 .
You’ll probably laugh when I tell you this, but at the ripe old age of 21, I thought that I was “on the shelf”.
Why? Peer pressure. It was subtle, to be sure, but being heavily involved in church and youth group, most young women in my circle were married by that age. My sister married at 18; my best friend was married at 19, and had her first child a year later at 20.
Meanwhile I’d just broken off with my fiance, so there was no wedding in my immediate future! (Though I’d just started going out with the man who became my husbear about 2 1/2 years later 😉 .)
Next came the buying of a house … baby plans … enrolling them in a “good” or “private” school … driving a nice car … and all the rest of it.
Miss 25 has told me a little about what peer pressure feels like for today’s young adults – she always feels “boring” if she is asked at work on a Monday, what she got up to on the weekend and she hasn’t done anything “interesting” (or “insta-worthy”?!)
Peer Pressure in Adulthood
Nowadays, my kids are all grown up and peer pressure tends to revolve around things like holidays (particularly overseas – well, except for during a pandemic LOL), bragging about kidults (and grandchildren, if you have them), nice homes, perhaps an investment property or two.
However because I work from home I feel like I am mostly protected from direct peer pressure, except to have a “successful business” and a “seven figure income”. For some it might be “writing a book” (already done that), or being able to retire (nope, not ready for that yet).
The husbear however has been noticing more peer pressure since he took a job in the city about a year ago.
Conversations around the water cooler apparently focus on two things: sport (particularly football), and what’s showing on Stan. This has been a bit of a challenge for my man, as we really aren’t interested in sport, and we don’t have Stan (and no real desire to, we have Netflix and that’s enough for us).
Something else he’s told me about, is noticing (after years of working in suburbia, and of course at home, thanks to Covid) that most men were wearing fitted clothes. We took in some of his baggier shirts and trousers to help him feel like a better fit – pardon the pun. (And who says guys don’t care about fashion?!)
I can’t help wondering what form peer pressure will take in the years to come: choosing the “right” retirement or nursing home?! LOL!
What sort of peer pressure have you been noticing lately?!
