Introduction
Every person in the world is unique in their interests and feelings and has the right to express every opinion regarding life situations. However, it is often possible to encounter cases where an individual succumbs to societal pressure and is forced to lie about a fact only to avoid being convicted. This kind of rigidity can hurt my quality of life, and the most vivid example of this in my personal life was when I discussed family values on Christmas Eve with my relatives and friends. I believe such pressure negatively affects a person’s sense of self and kills their individuality as they try to meet the standards of a particular group, so it is necessary to defend their position.
Description of Social Anxiety
Before describing my example, I would like to focus on social anxiety. People who experience this feeling may feel fear of their negative judgment when building social relationships with people, which often makes communication difficult (Bică, 2022). In this case, the person may try to adjust his behavior to the more common to avoid conflicts.
Personal Example
This happened to me on Christmas Eve 2022 when all seven spent time together on vacation. There were people I knew, parents and distant relatives, about whom I knew very little from my parents’ stories about my childhood. At first, we gave each other gifts, talked about my achievements in educational activities, and spent time quite comfortably. However, when it came to the age at which each of us felt it was appropriate to start a family, most of my friends and family started talking about the age of 22-25. Not wanting to argue about it, I just said I agreed with them, although I did not think it was the right thing to do.
I can say that I experienced a sense of social anxiety while communicating with my relatives, as talking about family values strained me. In principle, people with a high level of this indicator are restored to better meet the requirements of their group (Bică, 2022). This happened after I agreed with other people about the best age to start a family, although I believe the minimum age for this is 30 years.
Everyone in the conversation was satisfied with my false answer, but at that moment, I felt an aversion to my lies and wanted to say what I thought. I felt a sense of aggression, and my body began to shrink from the desire to state its position. Still, under the group’s opinion, my brain automatically decided to lie for good. Nevertheless, I believe that in this situation, each person should train their forthrightness and declare their values, no matter how unpleasant they seem to the participants in the conversation.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the situation on Christmas Eve was an important lesson for me: everyone should be able to stand firm during conversations. Social pressure can significantly impact people and make them say something most people like, but it kills the human personality. It is necessary to respect every person’s opinion in the group but remember their feelings and value their belief. If we suppress our desire to express an opinion different from that of the majority, we can get used to it and do it all the time, and we have to fight it every day.
Reference
Bică, A. (2022). Peer pressure: Conformity outweighs reciprocity in social anxiety. Current Psychology (New Brunswick, N.J.), 1–8.