Beating Peer Pressure

We have talked about why peer pressure can be hard for you. Now let's look at ways you can beat peer pressure.

Know Yourself

It is important to have a sense of who you are. Psychologists call this having a sense of identity. It means knowing what you want out of life.

Do you want to be an airline pilot? An army officer? A senator? Drugs could ruin your chances to be any of those things. If you know who you are and what you want, it will be hard for anyone to push you into taking drugs.

Have a Long-Range View

This means seeing the big picture. You have probably seen movies about other people's lives. If you could see a movie of how things were going to turn out for you, would it affect the way you live today? Of course it would! If you knew you were going to have an unsuccessful career because you used drugs when you were young, would you use them anyway? If you knew that you would become permanently paralyzed after a bad dose of drugs, would you continue to use them? If you knew that drugs would kill parts of your brain every time you used them, would you go on?

If you have a long-range view, you can see that using drugs hurts your chances of success in life. Counselors often refer to addicts as chronic underachievers. This means that they never get as far as they could have.

Be Assertive

This means telling people what you want and what you do not want. It means saying no and meaning it. It means refusing to use drugs, or it means ending your use. Assertiveness can be difficult at first, but it gets easier with practice.

When you first use assertiveness, drug dealers will try to make you give in. If you continue to say no, they will leave you alone.

Ask an Adult's Advice

Parents and other adults can help you find ways to deal with peer pressure. Pastors, rabbis, teachers, and grandparents have had years of experience in dealing with things like peer pressure. (Yes, even they had problems with peer pressure.) You may be surprised how well their advice works.

Amphetamines and other stimulants are very dangerous substances. When you're feeling depressed or overwhelmed, the kind of effects they promise can seem appealing, but the long-term effects can be devastating.

You have alternatives—and you have the right to say no to drugs.