Expectations are important and necessary in my life, but sometimes they can possibly harm my life purposes. What I mean by “harm” is that when expectations are too high for me to complete such tasks or achieve goals, I can be too stressed and get mentally ill. It can also disrupt me to focus on the real purpose of the work. For example, when I was preparing my art portfolio for college applications, I had a friend in my class whose parents stressed her too much about college applications. Her parents wanted her to get accepted to Harvard University, which was a dream school of her as well. She was desired to work hard to create amazing artworks, but they didn’t turn out well as she wanted them to be. She was in despair due to the endless problems she faced while working on her artworks. She was exhausted and hopeless. Despite her stress of continuing her artworks, her parents weren’t interested in her stress and worries. They were only pressuring her to work harder and harder. They didn’t care about the process. They only wanted her to get into Harvard. Eventually, as she was extremely stressed about her art-making processes and college applications, she gave up on her art college applications and decided to rest for a while to think and reconsider what she really wants to do. Like this, excessive expectations and following pressures can disturb initial purposes and produce unexpected outcomes.
