Social Stress and Its Impact

In life, hardly anyone can live alone. Especially in stressful modern day society, people look to friends, family and/or their beloved for motivational support and encouragement. Friends and acquiantances are easy to find, but true friends who understand our inner voices are hard to come by.



Most people live surrounded by friends who get together to have fun, to enjoy and drink their hearts out. But why is it that people need friends? Are people friends because they truly care about one another? In most cases, it is the fear of lonliness, the helplessness of isolation that people look to friends. They fear to be outcast, to be alone and seen as individuals who are weird and unaccepted by the common crowd. Indeed, friends can be the pillar of our confidence, yet conforming too much to our friends' opinions and lifestyles can also be a sign of our lack of confidence.

One common issue related to social stress is peer pressure. It is the insecurity of the mind telling us that we need to be like the majority to be accepted. Some aspects include the topics we talk about, the enthusiasm we show, the way we dress, our opinions towards certain things etc. The stronger the likeness of these aspects we share with the people around us, the more secured and confident we feel in our social life.

Thinking on this line too much causes us to forget who we really are and disregard the value of friendship for it becomes no more than an external shell for our recognition by the society. Some people even make use of friends for own benefits rather than treasure them as friends.



But this does not rid people of the fear that they need social recognition to be confident. Many times we are one person when we are with friends, while another when we are alone. It is when one is alone that he/she shows his/her true personality and colors. If you agree with this too, that means you are truly comfortable when you are alone, because that is the only time you return to yourself, a state where pretence is not needed, when you can safely take off your mask and act how you naturally act.

It is this side that the common crowd finds hard to accept. We know this, although we are unhappy with it, we have learn to accept the fact that there's nothing we can do to change it. This is how society works and those who are not in, are out. It's strange to say we are unhappy with this yet meanwhile some of us would penalize those whose behaviors, speech or opinions seem unfitting to the common crowd of the society.



If one can quiet down and think it through, isn't that the way each of us had wanted to be? To be honest to ourselves, but for our fear of trading this honesty with the social acceptance that we are so comfortable with, we chose to hide our true feelings at most times. Thus why should we judge or discriminate those who are honest enough to show who they really are?

One reason I realize when I look deep within myself, was because deep within me, there is a part that wishes for differences between people to exist, even though I myself am a victim of prejudice caused by these differences.

I believe I am not the only one, after observing the situation of friends and even strangers around me, and also through talking with them. If we want the society to accept us, we should accept others too, no matter how awkward they may look, act, speak or behave. After all, it is the character that truly matters, and people who with honest and truthful characters are true friends indeed, people whom in their company, make us realize what real confidence should be.