Pressure Points

Who's pushing your buttons?

By Maggie Gusman

Q. What turns a piece of coal into a diamond?
A. Pressure.

Q. What turns a self into a stranger?
A. Pressure.

We here at Girl Zone would like to thank Mother Nature for using pressure to create such fantastic things as gemstones, earthquakes and volcanoes, but if we ever get our hands on the nimrod who decided that pressure might be a good thing to use on people, we'd give 'em a lava bath right quick.

So many people - especially young women, are pressured to change their appearance, beliefs and activities in order to be accepted by society at large that it's really hard to tell who's really for real and who's really unreal. All this squishing and squeezing has turned us into either rebels or good girls - and neither seem to be happy.

While a rebel appears to have life on easy street, free from the concerns of the in crowd, it takes a lot of personal energy to fight the kinds of pressures around these days. Whether it's piercing her tongue or fighting to be the first girl on the wrestling team, the rebel has a big reputation to live up to, and it's not uncommon for that to be the controlling point in her life.

Life isn't much better for the good girl. She's so busy trying to meet everyone's expectations that she forgets she even has her very own personality. The pressure of being perfect and making everyone happy is exhausting for the good girl, and by the end of the day, she has no time or energy to even think about whether her life is what she wants.

So what can we do to fight this evil force? Become diamonds in the rough: imperfect pieces with endless potential, strong enough to handle any pressure put upon us. Take this quiz to see how rough you are - or aren't.