It was on October 1, 2010, school’s homecoming night. I was on the bleachers at the football game with a bunch of my friends. One of my friends who moved to Texas just came back for the weekend. He offered me a drink and I didn’t reject the offer. I didn’t think much. I got carried away by peer pressure. It was completely my fault choosing to do so. I did not realize just how serious the consequences of my stupidity were, nor did I realize the legal and health implications. I was drunk before I even realized it.
There is absolutely no excuse for what I did. I take full responsibility for my misconduct. I didn’t just break the school’s drug and alcohol policy, but the federal drinking age as well.
What I have done is now part of who I am. No one can change that. I had a choice, either to accept 10 day suspension as punishment and gain nothing from it, or to reflect on my mistakes and learn from them in addition to the punishments. I have met a half dozen times with an alcohol and drug counselor and grounded myself for one additional month. I have been tough on myself ever since.
My mother told me not to be too hard on myself, because what’s really important is what I learned from it, than what happened. She tried to comfort me by saying that I would been fine if it happened back in my home country, where drinking age is 18, but I am in America and I have to abide by its law. She told me to move on from my mistakes and start new. But I should be more self-controlled and hard on myself than I am to others. Easy lessons shall be forgotten easily while hard ones shall not.
Dealing with peers has always been very difficult. I felt un-cool or left out not going with the general flow, so most of times I did things that my friends did or what they wanted me to do. But now, I learned not to. Friends are good and crucial parts in my life, but I shouldn’t do things I believe is inappropriate just because of peer pressure. I realized what they do isn’t very important, but what I do is. It’s my life and I should do things that I think is right and conscientious to do fairly unaffected by my peers and friends. And good friends should respect that, if not I guess they aren’t worth being acquainted with.
I’m an adult now and should be responsible for whatever I do. There is no one to blame, but me. The ultimate decision came down to me and I’m the one who chose to drink. I learned my lesson the tough way, but I’m not complaining since it can ultimately shape me to become a better person. I never make the same mistake twice. It’s entirely up to me what I do with this experience. I’m choosing to go forward.