Expectations Turned Reality

            Now that I’ve finished the book The Other Wes Moore, I kind of want to go back to the question are we products of our environments or our expectations? Before I read the book, I argued that both were true. Our expectations and environment affect who we become as people, and I am still going to stand by what I said about that, but I am going to add to it a bit. 

Ok, so when I first responded, I said that our expectations and the expectations around us create the environment that we live in. I still agree with this, but I think that there is a little more to it because where do these expectations come from?  Expectations are the belief that something will happen or be true in the future. These beliefs can be almost anything, it can be where someone wants to go to school, the career they want, where they want to live, or even what they want to become. I think that these expectations come from the people we look up to in our lives, and those people change as we grow. When we are younger, it tends to be our teachers, parents, and older family members, but as we age, we are slowly able to choose who we surround ourselves with. So, as a young child, the people who influence our reality and expectations are often picked by our parents, so we grow to have similar expectations for ourselves as our parents, and if we don’t do anything to change that, we will be stuck as one version of ourselves and struggle to evolve. However, if we find people who have similar beliefs and expectations for themselves that we want, we can surround ourselves with them and become who we want.

That was a lot, but let me give some examples of what I’m talking about because I feel like this doesn’t make as much sense as I would like it to without them. Ok, the example we are going to use is from The Hunger Games because most people know the plot of the Hunger Games. Imagine you are one of the people who live in the capital, if you have grown up surrounded by people who all believe the same things, the capital is good, the hunger games are inevitable, people from the capital are better than those in the districts, you are also going to learn to believe these things. It just makes you a product of your environment and the expectations of those around you. However, let's say that you meet a rebel or one of the tributes for the games and learn about what is happening in the districts, how the Hunger Games don't have to happen, and that all people are equal. It is slowly going to change the way you think and approach situations. The same thing is true for us even if we aren’t in the Hunger Games. If we are constantly surrounded by people who have the same beliefs, we are inevitably going to adopt their expectations, but if there is a variety of expectations, we get the option to choose who and what we want to become. 

So, are we a product of only our environment? No, we aren’t we are a product of our environment, yes, but also our expectations and the expectations of those we surround ourselves with. With this in mind, who are you surrounding yourself with? Do they reflect your beliefs and who you want to become? Food for thought.