As we journey through life, one of the most constant things that we'll definitely encounter is the advice or opinions of those around us who are offering us advice, guidance, and the like. The positive role such plays in our lives is enormous, as it helps broaden our knowledge of some aspects of life we hadn't considered. Most of the advice comes from experience, societal norms, and the like, but is this always good?
When it comes to whether the advice or opinions of others are always good or not, I'll say it's a 50/50, but then let me first talk about the positives and, as well, share personal experience to emphasize more on the point for better understanding. As we all know, such advice could come from friends, family members like parents, siblings, and the like; it could even be from coworkers like superiors, subordinates, and the like. What matters is that everyone is trying to share their pieces of advice to help aid our journey in one aspect of life or another.
Talking about peer pressure, this is a very critical part of our lives and mostly has ample effects on youth. I remember when I was in secondary school, mobile was just becoming a thing in my country then, and most of the phones we've had then are Java and Symbian, but being a student from a not-too-rich family, I couldn't afford one, nor would my guidance get me one.
I remember going to school daily and seeing my friends come to school with these devices and play games, chat with one another, and do all sorts of things. I really envied them, wishing I could do the same because most of them don't even want to borrow you their phones for you to play with them. All I could do was watch as they either played a game, watched movies, or the like.
And then one day one of my friends, whose parents, just like me, aren't rich, approached me, telling me one of the students in our class said he'd love to sell some phones, and when I was told the price, it was relatively cheap. I couldn't even believe my ears when I heard the price because it's like 20% of what the phone is actually worth, but because of my desire to have a phone of my own, I immediately made up my mind that I'd buy it, so I begged him to give me some days.
Getting home, I check my savings. I realized I've got about 40% of the money already, and now it's left for me to get the remaining 60%. For that, I started doing some mania jobs around our neighborhood, like helping people cut the grass around their houses for cash, working as a laborer to a bricklayer during the weekends for some wages, and just after a week, I was able to raise the 10 thousand naira he said he would be selling the phone for
I paid him and got the phone. I was super excited, but knowing the type of parents I've got, I know I dare not let them find out I'm the owner of the phone or else they'll deal with me, so I usually hide it from their sights and mostly use it when I'm away from home, while they sleep, or when I'm in school. With the phone, I was able to feel among my peers until the unexpected happened.
One day, the boy who sold the phone to me came to my parents house with some adults and pointed to me as the person who's with the phone they're looking for. Apparently, the boy stole the phone from someone in his neighborhood, but luckily for the owner, someone saw the phone with the boy before he sold it to me. So after several questions and punishments, the boy confessed that he's the one who stole the phone, but that he had already sold it to someone else, and that's who he led them to my guidance house.
On arriving, they narrated everything to my grandparents, and they asked me if it's true; I said yes, but I didn't know he stole it. They then asked how I got money to afford the phone, and I told them it's from the mania job I usually do in the neighborhood. To not cause much uproar, they asked me to return the phone to the people without asking for the money I paid, but when the people left, I saw hell due to the punishment I got for daring to do such in their absence.
I myself understand that what I did was wrong, and it would have been worse in the present day because had those people come with police men, then I would have been arrested as an accomplice to the thief. Well, luckily, it was just the scolding of my grandparents I received, but since then I have learned the hard way, becoming more skeptical and not letting peer pressure get into my head into doing things I know might get me into trouble or would annoy my parents if they found out.
But with that experience of mine, that doesn't mean peer pressure is completely wrong, nor is taking advice from people a bad thing. What it shows is that we should try to critically filter everything that's said to us so as to know which is right and which isn't. Also, learning from those experiences we've had in the past can play a huge role in our future encounters or advice to young ones around us.
That's about it for my take on this subject matter of the INLeo initiative #aprilinleo, which you can also participate in, but first click on this link to read all about the necessity and guidelines.
Thanks so much for your time. Have a wonderful day.
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