The Effects of Peer Pressure

It's been a while since I last posted, but I feel like a little venting is in order. I really should be cleaning my room up, but procrastination is one of my hobbies. More-so then cleaning anything.

So, I was invited to a Halloween party last week (of course). I'm not a loser who has never gone to any parties *cough cough*, because I've been invited, but I was actually planning on GOING to this one. There would, of course, be drinks, but I'm underage and not a drinker, so I never planned on this being a problem. It's $10 for entrance, because they assume everyone is there to drink, but I figured I'd just mooch off enough food worth $10, hmm?

Well, I never actually got to the party, because of family reasons, but I started thinking some dangerous thoughts. This would be my first party (with drinking, I mean), no? Drinking is bad. Sure, it won't kill you right away. But it leads you to do stupid things. And I already do enough stupid things without any alcohol or anything in my system.

Do I drink? No. But Jello-shots! There would be Jell-o shots! Now, I've had some alcohol before (what teenager HASN'T?), but I never liked the taste or the effect it had on me. People say beer and liquor are for socializing, but I say it's kind of lame if you can't have fun without something in your system to loosen you up. So I didn't really attempt to think about the drinking. But Jell-o shots kept coming into my mind. I mean, I LIKE Jell-o. I don't like drinking. But I like Jell-o. And then my mind started into a crazy spiral. One drink couldn't possibly hurt, right? After all, it's just one drink. It's not even a drink. It's Jell-o. Pretend you don't notice that little sour taste in there. It's so colorful. Drink it.....

My obsession with shiny stuff and colors nearly got ahold of me there. But obviously, it's stupid to do something because it looks pretty. "Ooh, that shiny boat in the distance looks pretty! Maybe if I jump off this cliff and into the water 300 ft below, I can swim to it!!!!" Um, no...

And then I thought about all the other people who would be at the party. They all would be drinking. I paid my $10 too. Why don't I get to join them in? This was not my brightest train of thought, and thankfully it was all hypothetical. I tend to get imaginative when thinking about things, including this future party. I thought how they would all be drunk and silly, and how I would be the only one not drinking.

But isn't the FIRST thing most parents teach you is to not succumb to peer pressure? Don't drink, don't smoke, don't do drugs. The only reason most people do this is because of peer pressure. It always seemed like such a dumb thing to do; to do something because your friends are doing it is stupid.

But really, no one wants to be left out. No one was to feel different. Everyone wants to fit in (wow, Captain Obvious much?), and sometimes doing that one illegal thing would help. My train of crazy continued. One drink can't hurt. Jell-o is pretty. Liquor isn't dangerous unless taken in large amounts. In fact, alcohol is legal after a certain age, and they just don't let minors use it for fear of abuse. And in fact, I'm so mature, I would be able to handle it! Not.

Then again, smoking is also legal, after 18, and that's a pretty stupid thing to do. And so I smacked myself out of my temporary insanity. But I think I really got into the mindframe of why peer pressure works. These people are my friends, so I wanted to fit in! Not my closest friends, mind you, but that's because I never party with them.

So all in all, I'm glad I didn't go to the party and succumb to peer pressure. Who know's where I might have ended up. Date raped? Drunk and grounded for life by my parents? On the street somewhere? I mean, I still had some fun with my bffls trick-or-treating and then hanging out at their house.

In the end, though, I think I'm glad I have my best friends who don't drink/smoke/do drugs with me. You shouldn't have to do crazy stuff to fit in. They'll all be over their wild phase when they're in their 40's and having a midlife crisis.