Whether we like it or not, people will have expectations of us for our entire lives. As children we don’t pay attention to these expectations, and for the most part we don’t care if we meet any of them or not. As a teen or young adult, this changes. We not only think about expectations, we also try to meet them. This is probably because in this stage of our lives we’re longing to be accepted, so we try to please everyone.

You may know from experience that attempting to please everyone is very hard – if not impossible. What makes one person happy may make another unhappy. For instance, your parents may expect you to attend all family events while your friends may expect you to hang out with them all the time – because they have different expectations of you.

We tend to take the opinions of others to heart, but at the end of the day what you think and the goals you set for yourself are what should matter most. Remember, you can’t make everyone happy, so it doesn’t make sense to lose your identity or make yourself miserable trying to please others.

-Erica