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Choosing Between a Positive or Negative Attitude
Speak to the potential you see in others
“All successful people have a goal. No-one can get anywhere unless he knows where he wants to go and what he wants to be or do.” (Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993)
Can you remember times as a teenager when you allowed negative peer pressure to influence your choices? Why was that? What impact did those choices have on your teenage years? Lessons learnt?
Over the years I have done a lot of work in high or secondary schools, attended by 13 to 19-year old students. One of the greatest issues I confronted was the effect of peer pressure on the lives of these students.
It is seen in the negative attitude to anything that is said.
It is seen in the way students, who want to ask questions, or who want to get involved in an activity, or who want to answer questions, remain silent for fear of what their peers might say.
It is supposedly not cool to try too hard. Sometimes there are deeper reasons that complicate things even more, as will be evident in the four stories I’ll share below.
