Xpectations

The Transition to Adulthood by Calvin and Frances Goldscheider discusses the insurmountable mountains of expectations we erect for ourselves to hurdle over and how the slightest knick of a hurdle prompting us in failure’s directions causes us to give up. Why do we have such a prominent phobia of failure? Just a glimpse of it will send us home packing with our tails tucked between our legs. For one, the increasingly harder acceptance guidelines of contemporary colleges force us to fit the perfect student prototype they have fashioned. This instills in us a fear of failure that is present in all aspects of our lives. So if we fail to get into the out-of-state college of our dreams, if we fail to get an A on the Chem 31X midterm, if we fail to get that hunky dream date with the football running back Scott Tucker you and your best friend so cleverly coined as “white tee”, it’ll batter us into going to an in-state college nearby home, into taking an easier chemistry class where you can earn a guaranteed A, into shying away from serious, committed relationships since the one with Mr. Right didn’t work out. Something about this mentality just seems wrong. Maybe it’s just me.