"I’m not in this world to live up to your expectations and you’re not in this world to live up to mine." - Bruce Lee

So true, yet so false. Unfortunately, we live in a world full of expectations. Even as I write this article, I am writing it with the subconscious expectation for someone to read it. Harmless expectation, yet an expectation. There are many different types of expectations. Some we have for ourselves, for example: I expect myself to be kind and polite. Some we have for our loved ones, for example: I expect my loved ones to love and respect me. Lastly, some we have for the world we live in, for example: We expect our world to be a safe place.

Then there are expectations others have of us and those are the ones each of us struggle with on a daily bases. For example, you start your day and you have to wait up at a certain time. Why do you "have to" wake up at a certain time. Well, some of you have to get to work, some have to get to school. Then sometimes, your mother expects you to wake up early, like my mother does, even when I am on vacation. Then you shower and get ready, so you can appear presentable. Whose expectation is that? Well, it's an unsaid expectation of the society we live in.

Alright, it's not even nine in the morning and you have already met a few expectations set by others and the society. You finally make it to work or school, and then there is the expectation to perform. As someone who has been in school all my life, I am almost too familiar with the expectation to perform. It's not my parents who expect me to perform well. It's not even my friends who expect me to perform well. If you do well, your faculty and your classmates categorize you into this stereotype and develop high expectations. I remember feeling anxious about my comprehensive exam and my advisor said, "You have nothing you worry about, you are going to ace it." But that only raised my anxiety. Once you make it out of school or college, then there is the expectation to perform at work. Well, first there is the expectation to find the perfect job and as someone who is about to graduate from college, I can definitely feel it from all ends. So you work hard your entire life to meet these expectations to perform but wait, there are certain contradictory expectations as well. Your friends will expect you to come out with them and party, but wait you also have to perform. Then you are expected to get married, settle down but wait you want to climb up the corporate ladder.

How can we meet all these expectations and still have our sanity intact? I don't have it all figured out but here are a few tips that help me.

1. Only do something you really want to do.

2. Focus not on the end goal, but on the process of getting to the goal. We get so caught up in trying to get to the end, we forget to enjoy the present.

3. Expect nothing of others, so you won't feel disappointed.

4. Focus on one thing at a time, to avoid feeling overwhelmed.

5. Lastly, why set any expectations at all? Just go with the flow. I know it contradicts the expectation society has of us, but really, when you let go of this idea of expectations, you'll be happier.