Peer Pressure: A Two-Way Street

Can peer pressure be positive? Why or why not?

I believe that peer pressure can be either positive or negative depending on the context and situation.  For example, I was pressured by my peers in my challenging, top ranked high school to study hard and take schoolwork seriously.  It was almost cool to be a nerd.  My smart peers influenced me to do well in school.  I wasn't nearly as intelligent as my fellow classmates but their dedication pushed me to do better.  My college coursework was easier to handle after my rigorous high school academic life.  I now consider myself a life long student.  Even now that I am not in school, I enjoy keeping up with current events, reading new books and learning new things.  Of course, we all know the flip side of peer pressure in high school where kids get involved with a bad crowd and in turn jeopardize their futures.  Peer pressure is a two-way street.

College sans alcohol

Tell us about a time when you didn't bend to peer pressure, and you swam against the stream.

The first few weeks of college usually conjures up images of new classes, bonding among fellow classmates, and drunken debauchery.  Well the first two applied to me and the the latter not so much.
My freshman year of college I chose to be on a substance-free hall.  Our dormitory hall was encouraged to have fun without the social lubricant that is alcohol.  I was just 17 when I started college and I was intent on meeting people and having fun without drinking.  And I did meet people!  I made friends who chose to drink and friends who didn't.  I didn't take part in wild parties like most other freshmen but I thoroughly enjoyed the pizza parties and movie nights with the people on my floor.  Perhaps my anti-alcohol stance until 21 can be attributed to my upbringing in church or the morals that my parents instilled in me, but mostly I think it's just that I wanted to be in control and I didn't want to break the law.  I didn't want to wake up wondering what I had done last night or throw up in the courtyard.  I enjoyed being a nerd in college and I didn't care if that made me different. Sure, sometimes I felt like the odd one out when everyone else was discussing the wild frat party but in the end, I wanted to have fun on my terms.

I studied abroad at age 20 in Spain where drinking was permitted for 18+.   The fact that I had not drank before (outside of sips of my parents' drinks) made the Spanish sangria even tastier.  And when I turned 21, I used my ID for the first time to buy none other than a margarita!   Was it worth the wait?  Yes.

What about you fellow bloggers?  Are there instances when you swam against the stream?

Rahel

Thoughts On Being Yourself

Since we are on the topic of peer pressure, here is a video from one of my favorite you-tubers, Jenna Marbles, on being yourself.  I love it!

"The single greatest gift you could ever give the world is to be exactly who you are and that that is your whole journey here on planet Earth as a human in the human experience."-Jenna Marbles

"You are the only you that there is, you are the most rare and majestic you there ever was and ever will be."  -Jenna Marbles





Awesome!

Bending to peer pressure

Tell us about a time you bent to peer pressure.

Happy Monday, fellow NaBloPoMo bloggers!  I can feel the holiday rush lifting as everyone returns back to work.  Yes, I am up at 6 am typing this.  And no, I am not a morning person so please forgive any incorrect grammar usage!

I would like to think of myself as a lofty individual who has always taken pride in being unique.  But, alas, I was just like any other kid, susceptible to following the latest trends.  I bought into the trends in middle school especially when all I wanted was to fit in.  Do you all recall gelly roll pens and beanie babies?  Oh, and giga pets?  All my friends had them so I had to also!  Yes, I was just a money sign in the eyes of companies aiming at the 'tween' demographic.  None of this 'consumerism' peer pressure resulted in any dire consequences for my young life but I'm sure my parents' wallet could have done without it! 

When I first saw this prompt though the first instance that came to mind was in second grade.  I had gone to a pool party for a little friend's birthday.  I was impressed by all my friends doing jumps,  flips and dives into the pool.  I watched in amazement while I doggy paddled in the shallow end.   A classmate dared me to dive into the pool.  I resisted but she kept pressing me to do it even though I told her I had never dived in before.  We compromised on me doing a 'twist' jump into the water.  I also saw that I had gained an audience and I didn't want to disappoint.  Casting aside my fear, I jumped into the air twisting my body as I fell to the water.  Seconds later, my chin hit the brick siding of the pool busting it open and leaving a gaping wound.  I remember crying and calling my Mom to come get me.  I went to the ER and spent the rest of that afternoon getting stitches in my chin.  Fun?  No.  A valuable lesson?  Yes.  I thought twice before taking a dare from anyone again.  Turns out peer pressure can hurt!

What are your stories of peer pressure?  Did your choice(s) have consequences?

Rahel

Procrastination vs. To Do Lists

Do you have a tendency to procrastinate, or do you like checking things off your to-do list?

As I mentioned in my earlier post, I do have a natural inclination to procrastinate. Procrastination was my middle name last year.  And on top of that, I rarely maintained a to-do list.  Well, good bye 2013!   

This year, I want to check things off my to-do list like I used to.  Back when I was in school, I was the queen of to-do lists.  I got immeasurable joy from checking items off my extensive lists.  Don't get me wrong, I would still procrastinate in school but I knew what had to get done and by when.  There was a method to my procrastination madness!  The 24 hour computer lab by my dorm was my best friend.  So, in addition to getting my tech life organized, I am going to start 2014 off by writing a daily to do list.  Most likely this will end up being a weekly list but hey, it is better than nothing.  And even if I do procrastinate on it, at least I will have the joy of checking items off eventually!

How about my fellow bloggers?  Do you have a daily or weekly to-do list?  How do you hold yourself accountable for things that need to get done?

Hope y'all have a great weekend.  Happy Friday!

Rahel

Yes, that's me posing outside my beloved 24 hour Computer Lab in college. 

Happy New Years!

Hello to all on the second day of 2014!

I had a great New Years' celebrating with family at home.  We had some delicious food/drinks to help us ring in the New Year.

Here are a few treats I helped to create along with the ingredients below.  I decided to keep it simple after royally messing up some Nutella cookies for Christmas.  The Nutella cookies recipe was from a British blog and more complex to make than I had anticipated.  My cookies ended up tasting like flour and my family voted to trash them.

Luckily, my New Years' food contributions turned out exceedingly better and I was able to redeem myself somewhat.  My motto for cooking is to keep it simple and go with recipe sources you can trust.  :)

My New Years' Brownies!  (OK fine, they were from a package but I still had to make them!)

You too can make these delicious Hot Chocolate brownies with marshmellow swirl in less than an hour with the help of my good buddy, Betty Crocker.

Love you, Betty.

We also decided to ring in the new year with a healthy fruit salad which was easy to make and a crowd pleaser.

Mango, strawberry, blueberry, grape, raspberry salad.

And last but certainly not least, we rang in the new year with homemade mimosas which consisted of a blend of champagne, orange juice, sparkling soda, and sliced oranges for aesthetic appeal.  

Ringing in the new year right!

 Now, to answer the NaBloPoMo question of the day, I am currently feeling pressure to organize my tech life in 2014.  By that I mean I need to: 1) back up all of my files from my laptop,  2) sort through old e-mails I never delete and 3) look into getting a  new computer.  I have never been that tech savvy and doing all of this is a chore but I  know that it will pay off in the long run for me to be organized.  I have to keep my eyes on the prize.  It will also make my blogging life more pleasant!  I currently have a Dell laptop that makes a loud vacuum sounding noise every 5 minutes and takes forever to load.  Do any of you work from a laptop/desktop that you love?  If so, would your recommend it?  I am open to suggestions although leaning toward a Mac right now since my sisters both have a Mac and love it.  

Hope you all are having a great start to the New Year!  What is it that you are feeling pressure to do this year that you don't particularly enjoy?  How to you plan to make it more enjoyable?

Jan 1, 2014- Beginning NaBloPoMo- Blog Her

Happy New Year, all!  January 1, 2014.  I hope you all had a wonderful time celebrating with your loved ones.  Like most people, I love the feeling of beginning a new year and starting a new chapter.  Of course with a new year comes change and for me, with change comes anxiety.  I am a creature of habit and a person who loves the familiar.   My big resolution this year is to embrace change better.  To quote someone famous whose name I cannot recall,  "Change is the only constant in life."  I am also resolving to drink more water and hopefully (knock on wood) do some serious stomach toning in the new year.  I ate my weight in food over the holidays so Lord knows I need some of that!

By signing up for this NaBloPoMo I hope to achieve another big resolution to get my blog up and rolling this year!  It was great to find a community of fellow bloggers in BlogHer that will inspire my writing.   

To answer the first prompt of the month, I do work well under pressure in some cases.  Writing is one of those cases.  In college, I was the chick who stayed up all night in the 24 hour computer lab working on her research paper assigned at the beginning of the semester.  I fueled my body with bottles of Coca-Cola and junk food.  (Not fitting for my stomach toning resolution!)  Having a deadline for my writing motivated me and often times resulted in my best work which is what I hope will happen here!  My strategy of procrastinating and waiting until the last week/few days before a deadline worked wonders for most of my liberal arts courses in college.  This strategy did not work, however, with my more challenging subjects such as Calculus and Chemistry where I needed weeks of review to manage even a B on the test!

So, in sum, the pressure cooker works well when I am completing assignments that I enjoy or excel in.  In other areas, not so much.  So, fellow bloggers bring on the pressure!!