Rahi Vinod

I believe we all put expectations on ourselves all the time in our day to day life. For this summer I have decided to get better in animation and digital art. Another expectation I have for myself is to do good on the SATs for next year. For college I want to go to an animation college and technically they don’t require you to take the SAT but my parents said that it would still be good if I did. I really wanted to have a fun and relaxing summer break, however when it comes to expectations I kinda don’t relax for as much as I want to. I know some people may say, why don’t you take a day off, but that’s the problem! It’s now summer, no school, no classes, no homework, literally everyday is a day off now. When you have unlimited time and room in your day you can do all of the stuff you couldn’t do on a regular school day. However, there is a point in your day where you want to have some down time but you have already put a lot of expectations on you that you want to power through. But, there is also a part where if you do decide to clock out at a certain time and start relaxing you feel like you are being lazy if you don’t work.

Now let us talk about self-esteem. Self-esteem is probably one of the most important thing in everyone’s lives. Self-esteem can be affected by other people or by yourself. I know many people struggle with self-esteem issues either because someone says that they aren’t doing enough or that they themselves are telling them that they aren’t doing enough. It all ties down to goals and if you can actually accomplish them. One example is New Year’s Resolutions, many people complain that they didn’t accomplish their resolutions, but I think the main reason why is because you set yourself higher expectations, you need to see what range you are at and come up with a goal that you can achieve easily without you saying you are not doing enough. I think when I got into high school I started feeling like I have to do better in grades and also my hobbies. Many of my friends would say, “Oh yeah I actually did well on this test” and if I ever got a bad grade on the test it made me feel stupid. Now, I know my parents and other parents are reading this and they say that I should just study more, but I believe it all comes back to self-esteem, if you have a low one then you won’t do well, if you have a high one…I don’t know if you pass or fail. The point is, I think everyone pushes themselves too hard when it comes to work or trying to impress someone. I believe we all need to start with being kind to ourselves and knowing that we are able to achieve our own goals. See you next time!