147: TOPICS FROM COUNSELLING CLIENTS I Why You Must Pay Attention To Your Expectations!

The topic of this week is all about Expectations. They can either be highly damaging or wonderfully motivating. If they're challenging and fair, they will pull you forwards; if they're subconscious drivers, derived from the opinions of others, they will overwhelm you and make you feel worthless. Expectations can be placed on us by our parents. They can also be placed on us by the societies and communities that we are a part of. Some expectations are good: Thou Shalt Not Kill is a ripper! But the ones you should really pay attention to are the ones that either consciously or subconsciously influence the vision you have for your life. Who said you need to go to uni and study? Why are you working the job you hate? Why aren’t you good enough? Why won’t you ever be good enough? If you are feeling like a failure or that you’re constantly falling behind, ask yourself what it would take for you to be enough - and then consider why, when and how that expectation became the norm. The expectations you place on yourself need to be fair, loving and realistically challenging. If they’re not - or if you constantly feel unworthy (or like a failure) - write down who you think you need to be, and where / when you think you began thinking like that, and consider whether those expectations are working for you or against you. Life’s too short otherwise.