Doing Something GReat is Overrated

"Doing something great is overrated because then people expect that from you all the time. What they don't realize is that you're just as screwed up as they are."

Loved these lines from the series Mare of Easttown.

There is an expectation of us in our personal and professional lives to step-up and go great things consistently. Sometimes these expectations come from people close to us, sometimes those we work with, and on other occasions we have these expectations of ourselves.

The problem with all these expectations is that it weighs on our minds, and makes us feel we aren't good enough a lot of the times as what we achieve dwarfs in front of what we feel was expected of us. It can push us down the viscous cycle of losing respect for ourselves, and force us down the dark alleys of low confidence.

So what's the solution? Should we stop expecting things from us? Not sure, that's the right answer. Unless we aspire to achieve something and therefore are motivated towards it, we won't know what choices to make in our lives. Things could come to a standstill in life.

Maybe there is a two step that we could consider to escape this spiral.
1. Maybe, 80% of the expectations we have on us should be expectations are the motivated by our own desires/ pursuits/ passions/ responsibilities, rather than those imposed by people around us. This doesn't make us narcissist, but rather helps us getting our priorities right to lead a life of our chosen choices & responsibilities.

2. It's ok to give yourself the permission to rebuild and rebound when we make a mistake or screw up things. I am not suggesting that we encourage lack of accountability. We must try to give our best in what we do. But realizing that we are human and fallible, means that we forgive ourselves when we make a mistake (rather than getting pulled in a downward spiral that impacts our self confidence and self respect), and give ourselves the permission of working through the messy middle.