There is no good reason why you should ever lower your standards. Whether it is for yourself, your friends, a boy, etc.
1. Lowering standards for yourself will get you nowhere in life. If you don't have high standards for yourself, why not? You are capable of anything! If you lower your own standards, there is no way that you can be your best self. If you are capable of making a 100, why are you settling with an 87? Nothing worth having comes without hard work. The time you put take to do something is what makes it worth anything at all. Take your time, don't settle for less than you know you can achieve.
2. Don't let your friends lower their standards. If you let your friends lower their standards, are you really their friend? I know that my best friends have told me when I am doing something that isn't up to par with what I stand for. And I love them for that. If you know what your friends goals are for their life, you need to help them achieve it. Help them study for their Spanish test, don't let them go get drunk every weekend, tell them that they are worth so much more than what they are settling for, and if they don't listen, you need to tell them again until they do.
3. Do not lower your moral standards to get a boyfriend. I could go on for days about this one. Do not, I repeat, NOT, let a boy lower your standards. Nothing good comes out of a relationship where you had to compromise your morals. If a guy can't respect you for what you believe in and what you are comfortable with, drop him. He is the one who is missing out. Not you. It might take a while until you find someone who has the same values as you, but it will be so much better for you in the end. I promise, if you give in to doing something that you don't want to do, they aren't going to respect you. They will use you. There is no good reason why talented young women get used by men who don't respect them when they have so much to offer.
4. People like people who have high standards. Believe it or not, people do look up to people who don't give in to peer pressure. If they don't say it now, they will think it later. All of the women that I personally look up to are liked by a lot of people, and they don't need popularity to feel like they are worth something. They find their identity in Christ. You are a daughter of the King. Why do you feel the need to compromise anything? I don't understand why girls are so willing to throw away all of the morals that they used to stand by. It makes you boring. Anyone can do that. It takes a bold person to stand up for what they believe in. In the end, we remember the people who stood for something, not the people who gave in to the pressures of living in a broken world.
Lowering your standards is just a bad idea all around. Surround yourself with people who know what you believe and are willing to respect you and hold you accountable for your actions.
