Conflicts Resulting in Confusion and Desperation - Essay Example

The first three years of my adolescence went well without major events except for the effort of accepting numerous physical changes. However, when I was turning 16 years, my friends exposed me to peer pressure that was too much to handle. Notably, I had a measure of naivety, which compelled me to consider pleasing friends as a critical thing. Moreover, I felt that there was a salient to belong since I had grown up with them my whole life. This paper will describe a serious conflict that I faced when I was 16 years old and how I handled it.

As a young child, my parents had always been proud of me and had made efforts to inculcate good values in me. I remember my mother was very specific to the discipline and appropriate behavior. Moreover, I was a bright student and presented an exemplary performance in school. These were enough reasons to make my parents proud of me. However, becoming an adolescent changed my life. I faced a serious identity crisis that destroyed my self-esteem. I was torn in between my parents and my peers. At some point, I was well aware that I needed to obey and respect my parents, however, with the increasing pressure from my peers that proved to be difficult.

My change of behavior and attitudes made my parents begin to be very strict with me. There are many times when I was given strict rules if I had to go out with my friends. Despite these strict rules, I ended up breaking them and losing the favor of my parents. They were distressed about the challenges I was facing as a teenager. They tried to help me but to no avail. When I was not allowed to go out, I eventually lost the approval of my friends. Having lost the favor of my parents and the approval of my friends, I was faced with a personal conflict.

I felt lonely and disappointed with life. The personal conflict plunged me into emotional distress. I lost interest in many of the things I had been doing before and my self-esteem was crushed. During that personal conflict, I took time for personal reflection. I reflected on the relationship I had enjoyed with my parents and the love they had shown me. I considered the negative effects of yielding to peer pressure. Evidently, yielding to such pressure had caused a crisis with my parents and had affected my performance in school.

I realized that I needed to make better decisions to handle the personal conflict I was facing. I decided to remain obedient and respectful to my parents and defined new criteria for identifying my friends. Moreover, I sought help from my parents, who were willing to give me the support I needed to regain my self-esteem and confidence. Three after this conflict, I had restructured my life, and I began feeling more confident once more. My grades in school improved tremendously, and I regained the favor of my parents.

Moreover, I formed new friends who were more focused on making the best choice of their life. That experience made me realize that during a conflict, an individual must identify what is important. In addition, personal reflection is critical when handling personal conflicts.