The other weekend I went hiking with a friend and when we got to the waterfall, we started taking pictures, like any self-respecting girl who lives in the northwest would do. My friend climbed on a big rock, you can sort of see it in the left of the photo (and you can laugh at me and tell me it's not that big, it's all relative, right) and she wanted to take pictures there. Then she wanted me to climb on it too. I'm not so great with balance, and I had just rolled my ankle, and I was enjoying the waterfall just dandy from the little rocks closer to the ground. So I opted not go up. It turned out to be a great moment of self. In the past, I might have beat myself up for not being cool enough to climb on the big rock. Or I would have pushed myself to do it and been miserable the whole time I was up there. This time I thought, who cares! She can call me a weiner if she wants. I'm happy with the way things are, so I don't need any validation from others. And I'm even ok taking the dis.

I will note that there are times when peer pressure is good. There are definitely times when I'm wanting to climb on that rock, I just need a little support. The best thing to do is take an internal double-check and determine if you really want the thing you're going after, or if you want people to think you can handle it. The former determines the latter.