Posted by Anonymous on 2019/12/17 under Life I wonder, what did you expect me to do today? Did you expect me to speak about important, intelligent issues like climate change, or feminism, or how 'knife crime is a serious problem in London and it needs to be addressed'? See, one of the greatest playwrights, poets and authors in history once said, 'Expectation is the root of all heartache.' And it's true; every one of our problems come from unmet or unrealistic expectations. We are expected to take care of our earth – we're doing a pretty bad job. Women expect to be treated equally, but we're not. Development psychologist Jean Piaget observed that young children find it hard differentiating between what's inside their heads and reality. For example, if I think bad thoughts about someone, then that person will get hit by a car, or fall down stairs. He referred to this concept as 'magical thinking'. But Piaget made one mistake in his observation – he suggested that we all outgrow this by age seven. Yet it is this very idea that develops into expectations. Simply expecting something is not going to make it happen. You have to work to produce a result, because no one else is going to do it for you. If you just expect something unrealistic, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. The real problem of expectation stems from people making assumptions with no basis behind them. They see what they want to see in you, then they see the future image of you, then they form one path that gets you from where you are, to where you should be. Be careful not to let other people's expectations become your grim reality. Only when we realise that people are living at different stages, thinking differently and making different life choices will we have achieved the true meaning of acceptance. We need to understand that people do not think, speak and act like us. Each one of us have been shaped by our circumstances. The expectations that people have often do not align with reality. People are disappointed whenever this happens, but we can avoid this. Maybe, instead of reaching the bar set in another field, we should wield the hammer too long been concealed. Reject what people want to see. Accept the things that look different to me. Success, in my eyes, is where I want to be – and whether that success is found in winning Teacher of the Year, or the BAFTA award for the best supporting actor, or helping a person piece their life back together, don't mind what people say. If it's what you want, don't let others prevent you from achieving your goal.