University English 1: Personal Narrative Assignment - Reflection

This personal narrative, written by a student, recounts a significant experience involving peer pressure and a lapse in judgment. The narrative details a situation where the student, influenced by friends, experiments with smoking, leading to a series of events that include lying to their parents and missing an important exam. The story explores the immediate consequences of this decision, including the erosion of parental trust and feelings of guilt. The narrative further delves into the student's introspection, highlighting the factors that led to the lie and the subsequent realization of the importance of honesty, self-reliance, and the value of parental understanding and support. The narrative concludes with the student's reflection on the experience, emphasizing the lessons learned about making responsible choices and the enduring strength of familial bonds. The narrative also describes the parents reaction to the situation, and how they helped the student to overcome the addiction.

Running head: PERSONAL NARRATIVE
PERSONAL NARRATIVE
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1PERSONAL NARRATIVE
My exams were going on and I was stressed. We were a group of five friends and
we were having a group study. We somehow almost ended up with the huge syllabus and
planned to revise individually at our homes after dinner. We all packed our bags and the
group decided to take some fresh air before we get back home. While we walked outside
my friends decided to smoke and my family, like most other families, are strictly against
all these addictive behaviors. I wanted to experiment with a cigarette and my friends
wanted to smoke weed, and I thought both were cool and something I should explore as
all my friends of that age has already known the feel of it. After smoking weed, I entered
the trance for the first time and it was overweighing. It was a different feeling altogether
and I started to feel different. The body loosened and I was feeling more hungry and
sleepy. As soon as I reached home and knocked on the door, my father opened it. He
understood that something is wrong and there must be something dangerous that I have
plunged into. He called my mother and asked her to hold me, while my father brought me
a glass of water. Then they questioned me, I was still and silent, and then they asked if I
am alright. I said in the end that I am just not feeling well because I was stressed with
studies and I am very hungry and rushed to my room. As soon as I lay down on the bed
all went blank after that. The next day, when I woke up it was almost 3 at noon and I
realized not going to school for the class test, which was important. I lied to my parents
and although they understood somehow what I was up to because I did not say the truth,
they lost trust in me.
The circumstances that led to this incident were sheer peer pressure, which
pushed my capability to think rationally at the age of 16. Despite being well aware of the
negative consequences leading from the habit of smoking, I still somehow pushed myself

2PERSONAL NARRATIVE
in the practice. The risk factors of smoking can also arise from a sense of impulsion. The
biggest regret associated with the lie was acting opposite to the conversation I had while
returning home from smoking. I told my parents that, 'I was feeling stressed out due to
the pressure from studies and tests' and the next morning the lie could not even let me
attend the test. My parents were never stricter or pushed me in the belief that I cannot
share or communicate openly with them but that day, I knew I have crossed the line and
the values I have been engraved with as not only I intentionally fell into something,
which reflected direct negative consequences when I missed the test and my parents lost
their trust from their child, who was supposed to hold his ground despite the pressure one
can experience from peer groups and society as I was always being protected from the
stereotypes and trending culture. Contemplating the situation on the very next day, the
day I missed my exams, I realized the dependability of my thinking process. When I
decided to practically smoke with my friends, who did not have any idea or rationale
behind the practice, I knew what I was getting into, I knew what could happen after this
step, as I have witnessed the after-effects amongst my friends. I knew this step could
harm my health but my control over complete sense, my cognitive behavior and most
significantly my parents' reaction. The most disheartening fact about the factors leading
to the lie was that I was fully aware and intentional in adopting the decision to smoke.
The peer pressure and the thought of how my friends will feel if I don't act like them
made me take a wrong decision in life. I did not want to feel indifferent in the group and
this irrational feeling of insecurity made me smoke weed despite knowing all the negative
effects.

3PERSONAL NARRATIVE
My parents did not scold me and I almost got away with a lie that day. That lie to
my parents cost me their trust and my exam as well. I got away with such a lie as my
parents were sure about something wrong but they were not sure about what exactly it
was. Exams were already going on and since I was a lot stressed, my parents tried to
understand my situation. However, it is because of the lie that a lot of things changed and
I have grown myself to someone different and understood the world from a different
perspective. I realized the fact that my parents were hurt and even then they did not get
angry with me. They were upset. I confronted them and was about to explain the situation
when my father stopped me and sat beside me. He patted on my back and said realization
is enough to be forgiven. They said to me they knew I would realize and come to them.
They made me understand that anger is not the only way to deal with the situation but
understanding the situation is the only way. They told me how to deal with these
situations and feeling indifferent is nothing bad. It was my parents who helped me get out
of this feeling and habit permanently and that day made me realize who my actual well-
wishers are. It made me understand the value of necessity, priority and being true to my
self.