Thinking of pressure as I prepare to surrender to federal prison
As I get ready to surrender to federal prison, I am thinking about pressure. Certainly, succumbing to pressure contributed to the bad decisions I made that is sending me to a federal prison camp for 36 months.
I think in our society today various forms of pressure influence us all. We feel peer pressure … we feel pressure from our families … we feel pressure from our employer and from employees …We feel pressure from our friends … we feel pressure from ourselves … how we deal with pressure will indeed determine whether we succeed or fail in many of the experiences we face in life.
I will like to write about some of these pressures in the next several blogs as well as some ways to more effectively deal with them.
Peer Pressure… I think we start experiencing peer pressure very early in our lives, probably from the time we first start relating to other humans. From an early age we have wanted to dress, act, and talk like those we associate with. We have always wanted to be excepted by our peers. At first thought, we might think that this is true only when we were young, but I think the truth is that peer pressure lasts our entire lifetime.
Most of the time we dress, eat, talk, and act like our peers, seeking their approval. Normally, this is just fine, however there are times when the pressure from our peers can get us into trouble. Let me point out a couple of both positive and negative examples. Positive examples of peer pressure could be choosing to further ones education or to forgive another a wrong. Negative examples could be cheating on an exam or drinking too much alcohol. I’m sure we can all think of many examples where peer pressure can either be good or bad based on our moral compass and desire to remain true to ourselves and our character versus our desire to garner the approval of our peers. That we are influenced by our peers says something very important about whom we choose to associate with.
The important thing for all of us to recognize is that we have the individual power to choose, but only to the extent we become aware of those choices. We also have the power to change when we have made the wrong choices and to make better choices in the future, no matter what our peers may be saying or doing.
I wish had thought more about pressure, or been more aware of it, as I began making bad decisions. If I did I would not be enduring the pain I currently feel. I can do prison. That is not the pain I am talking about. It is the pain I know I have brought to those who believed in me. I hope someday I can make amends. Time will tell…
Scott Clark
