"I think the real takeaway from your story is that you shouldn’t make friends with judgmental people, otherwise you will let them peer pressure you into acting

"I think the real takeaway from your story is that you shouldn’t make friends with judgmental people, otherwise you will let them peer pressure you into acting against your best interests." Socio-cultural pressure has brought us to this level of advancement civilization and morality wise. This doesn't fall under the umbrella of "judgemental people" unless you mean to use such a wide brush to literally encompass everyone that's ever existed. "Peer pressure" is not always negative and in this case it most definitely wasn't. It was a corrective mechanism that worked very well for OP.