SOCIAL ACCEPTANCE

It's inevitably true that we live in a world where we constantly long to be accepted by our society of friends or at least feel among in the midst of our peers. Our lives revolve in such a way that we seek acceptance or recognition among the group of friends that possesses certain qualities, attributes or maybe display material possession. The crave to be accepted obstructs the true revelation of one's self. There are so many lives messed up now because of the actions they took or the decisions they failed to make on the altar of social acceptance, just to please their group of friends. It all begins with "It's just a stick of cigarette", "come on don't act small", till it warrants to drug addiction or something worse because in attempt to act in favour of those alluring words, we end up compromising just to fit in.

Photo Source : Pixabay
Undoubtedly, we all need to build our social status, grow our circle of friends , we wish to feel among but it's consequential if that is desired at the expense of our values. I've always known I'm not a party freak, never felt that comfortable going to parties especially at night but a close friend had his birthday party thrown in the evening and I had gave him my word not to absent myself from the party, it was difficult turning him down. Now the worst scenario came to play when I was offered alcohol of which I gladly declined. I had people asking me if it was against my religious doctrines but then I don't drink alcohol not because my belief or religious background abhors it. The last time I checked, I wasn't a religious Christian and no changes have been imposed on that since then. I have a brain very sensitive to alcohol in such a way that it gets intoxicated at the slightest inhalation of it not to even consider drinking it. So I had a problem partaking in a party where everyone drank and danced and there I was girded in my armour of decency. You know the saying "when you're in Rome, act like a Roman", I actually tried to implement that, wanted to force myself to drink just not to be mocked as the only righteous girl there but then it didn't work because that was what I could be, couldn't imagine myself acting all wild after taking few sips because I know that could have happened.
Most times, if not all the time, you need to make decisions concerning your life and your actions, stand your ground, bear the consequences and if it turns out good then you enjoy the benefits. Compromising your values, principles governing your attitude, in order to blend with troops of friends is nothing bad but when it's on the basis of gaining social acceptance, praise or recognition then it speaks low of your self worth and control.
It's most likely realistic that our egocentric minds attribute people's behavior or attitude towards us as a sheer display of social rejection because we've allowed our minds to interpret events and experiences in a negative light so we beat our chest, strive hard to gain their acceptance and shower of praises.
In a more precise words, we need social acceptance, we need a sense of social belonging, a feeling of importance but we also need to love ourselves enough to appreciate how we were crafted.