Quote:
Originally Posted by Archon_Wing
You have to realize that in a few years, these people will most likely mean jack shit anyways. Think about it like this. If you were to get in trouble, would they help you? Or would they do shit for you? Nuff said.
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It's not quite that easy.
Like TripleR and Ledgem, I don't drink any alcohol. Some people will make a sport out of getting you to drink, and it gets worse when they've already drunk a bit. I once was faced with the choice of drinking a beer or having it poured over my head. I refused to drink it, and it got poured over my head. The guy who poured it over my head? I'm pretty sure, out of the group, I could have relied on him the most. I think that was sort of a test how serious I was. I didn't even get angry. I did go home, after that, though; I won't sit around with beer in my hair.
Sometimes people who'll stick with you have annoying side habits. That's the way the world works.
I'm
not saying that's the case with Clarami's brother's friends. How can I? I don't know them. One problem is, though, when you're "under the influence" different things seem funny. I can easily imagine that Clarimi walking away would be a "cute" reaction. I'm not sure violence would have made a difference. From my experience around people on weed (very limited), the guy you'd sock would just complain that it hurts while his friends would stand around giggling, and nothing would change, except that you've just hit someone, which is not something most people like to do, especially if it ends up being pointless anyway.
If you're the one person who doesn't do X, many people will try to get you do X. Most of them only once. They don't see the problem: you can say no. The problem is you don't just say no once; there are many, many people who'll try that. And it's tiring to be only one to always say "no". They may even call you a spoil sport, or treat you like one. It never lasts, but you get used to it, and develop some sort of allergy to being asked to drink. So eventually, you get a lower frustration threshold, and you blow up over some triviality, and you know it's a triviality, but you can't help it. And then everyone wonders what's wrong with you.
It does get better as you age, though. Probably because your peers are older, too, and they've got more experience with "people who don't drink". Not sure that goes for weed, too, because that's more of a sub-culture thing; so it's really more like joining a club without meeting the requirements. It's more in-group/out-group stuff than pure peer pressure. The few weed smokers I knew, though, would offer a joint, and if you didn't take it, they didn't care. It felt more like they didn't want to exclude you, so they went through the motions, even though they knew you'd refuse. Different from the alcohol stuff, where they'd look at you like some exotic zoo animal.
Best thing I can say about peer pressure is "grin and bear it". I've been isolating myself, and I have a hard time getting "back in". (Mind: nobody excluded me; I just stopped going out, because those things were too annoying. Easy way out, so to speak.)
So, yeah, I've got experience, but no solutions, and no advice.