Friends, Conformity And Purpose

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

Once you have identified your purpose in life, don’t stop there;

You must also be focused on achieving it. This means being careful of how you spend your time alone or with friends, as well as being aware of what you conform to.  Without focus and determination, you can lose sight of the positive things you want from life.

Think for a moment about what you spend your free time doing.  Is it racing to the computer as soon as you get home to play the latest game or is it watching hours and hours of TV?

Although there are TV shows that are positive and video games that appear harmless, the vast majority of these forms of entertainment are filled with illicit sex and violence.  When your main sources of entertainment are TV and video games, you could begin to view violence as an acceptable way to handle anger.  As for sex, based on what is seen on TV, it appears that everybody is doing it without any negative consequences.  In real life, the consequences of having sex outside of marriage can result in STD’s that can both affect you for the rest of your life, and give you a bad reputation that could follow you for years to come along with a negative self-image that could affect the way you relate to and interact with others.

Remember from the previous posts, we identified the meaning of conformity as: to agree with and obey the customs and standards of others.  The attitude of ‘everybody is doing it’ is a form of negative conformity that stems from our need to fit in and be accepted as normal.  Negative conformity can derail you from your purpose.  In addition to the pressure to engage in premarital sex, there are many different ways that people take part in negative conformity.

The need to please friends is certainly one of the most powerful reasons why people conform.  For example, how do you spend your time when you are with your friends?  Studies indicate that a popular pastime for adolescents between the ages of twelve to fifteen is hanging out at the mall talking about and laughing at people as they walk by.  Many of the teens surveyed said that they would not feel comfortable doing this if they were by themselves.  But with friends, they set aside their sense of right from wrong because everybody else is doing it.

There are many other types of activities that are done with friends, as a means of conforming and fitting in, that are negative and have the potential to influence you to make poor choices.  Keep in mind that every choice you make including how you spend your time and what you conform to, can affect your ability to develop a positive character.  If you do not carefully consider what you are conforming to and how you spend your free time, alone or with friends, you could jeopardize your ability to achieve your purpose by making choices that are irresponsible, selfish and disrespectful.  Negative conformity can waste your time and your future.

Choose to be positive about your financial future.   Living the lifestyle that is important to you is possible.

If you believe it, and want an avenue to achieving it, then CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW.