- by Kattie C, 16 Sackville

The scariest thing I faced being a teenager was peer pressure. Some teenagers clearly see the effects it has but others often don't.

I was one of them who didn't.

I thought that I would be cool to do the things that other teenagers my age did .(Not saying that all teenagers are like this.) I was a follower for a while until one day I woke up and realized that I could not be doing this anymore.

I was hurting everyone who cared about me most. I was stealing and lying from them and in that moment of time…I didn't care.

I had a bad experience in my life (and was experimenting with things at a very young age) and that’s all it took to wake me up. Seeing my mother rush me to the hospital and sitting next to me crying asking me if I realized how many people I would hurt if something were to happen to me.

I didn’t know what I had been doing was affecting my family and friends so much. So at this point and time, I knew I had to change my life around.

My mother is the reason I overcame it all. If it was not for her, then I would more than likely be doing the same things that I was doing a couple years ago.

Going through all of this made me realize that life’s too short to not enjoy it. Even though my family may not have been there and may not have showed that they cared, they were still there for me when I needed them most.

Sometimes peer pressure can get dangerous and when I look back, there are things that I would say and do differently now to handle a situation based on peer pressure.

The major thing I learned is that if I want to succeed in life I can't sit around doing nothing or follow someone else. I have to dream my own dreams and work towards making them happen.

I am now ready to ask myself and work towards finding out...Who and Where would I be in 20 or 30 years from now…not sit around wondering.