Do We Live Our Own Lives?

Our lives are governed and directed by the expectations bestowed upon us by other people in the society. An expectation is a belief that someone will achieve something or should follow a certain path to achieve something. Every individual has his/her own expectations; peoples expectations on someone have the power to dictate the lifestyle of that person. Expectations which are unrealistic and difficult to achieve makes an individual sad and disappointed. Parents and elders in the society have preset expectations on their children; these assumptions dictate the behavior and the lifestyle of their children.

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One might be expected to grow up and take over the family business even though that individual may not be business-oriented. The expectations from the family exert pressure on such a person and he ends up pursuing business, a venture in which he derives no passion. Expectations can motivate an individual to work hard and achieve an objective in order to gain respect and trust. Individuals rise up to meet peoples expectations on them, the driving force behind fulfilling expectations can either make or break a person. When expectations are created, the behavior of a person is transformed to be consistent with the ways of fulfilling the prospect bestowed on the person.

The expectation of others on an individual can result to a change in behavior, for example, when a teacher labels a student as a trouble maker, it affects the child negatively. Research on peoples behavior cites that people tend to live up to the expectations bestowed on them whether positive or negative. Expectations are fundamental in our lives and they dictate the direction people take in their lives, their behavior of people and their general approach to life. The more an individual advance in age, the more he is expected to be responsible and to behave in a certain fashion. That is the reason behind the distinct behavior of adults which is very different from the behavior of children and teenagers.

This illustration asserts that the expectations bestowed on us influence the way we live our life. Another example of expectations is when a person goes to the movies especially horror movies. Men act tough and pretend not to fear because fear is not expected from them. When one in younger he has a lot of appetite for horror movies and roller coasters. A person does these things for fun and to prove he is brave. As an individual advance in age, the zeal for some activities such as roller coaster goes on decreasing, different things such as investment and financial stability becomes attractive. The more the age of an individual advance the more the expectations from the society get transformed.

Our lives are fashioned by our environment and the expectations of the society around us. There are certain emotions that are inbuilt in us such as love and kindness. When a person displays love, the society supports those emotions by giving the individual positive appraisal. This begins even when we are toddlers, when a small baby hugs a doll or smiles he is shown love and affection by the mother through a kiss and maybe a hug. This action sends signals to the brain of the individual; the person will thus relate certain actions and emotions with joy and acceptance.

The illustration above depicts that expectations govern the way we live all the aspects in our lives. When one is young is young there are certain products in the stores which are prohibited to that person, this elicits curiosity in the individual and the person yearns to grow older in order to have privileges. The older one gets the more is expected from him and his preferences and states change according to what is expected from him by those around him. The illustrations and discussions fronted in this essay ascertain that we do not live our own lives; we live our lives based on the environment around us and the expectations bestowed upon us.