“So, are you an honors student?” I asked the boy. At the age of 18, he was hardly a boy, but our age gap made the term feel right for me.
“Nah, I sometimes get failing grades,” he replied in his usual cheeky manner.
“That’s good,” I said.
“Huh? Why is that good?” He asked, confusion written all over his face. Most people, he knew, would have said that getting anything less than straight A’s is a bad thing.
I took a deep breath before answering. “Because then, people will expect less from you, including yourself,” I intoned, feeling a tug in my heart even as these words spilled from my mouth. “You won’t feel so pressured to be successful. And if you fail at something, you won’t be so hard on yourself.” And it won’t hurt as much, I thought.
“You’re right,” he agreed, nodding his head. “Were you an honors student?” he asked me.
“Yes,” I replied sadly.
This post is part of the A to Z Challenge, a blog hop that goes through the alphabet for all the days of April except Sundays.
I totally get what you mean, especially coming from an Asian culture, where there are always such high expectations! I set the standard pretty low for my general behaviour vis-a-vis my relatives so that there were no great expectations from them! LOL!!
It is always good to give no expectations to people and set some expectations just for urself<br />Good one 🙂
So very true Hei Dee.
I'm glad you did that because now i'm going to get picmonkey! I love it. Nice little piece of flash fiction there Dee. 🙂
It's a website. I really love it! You can use it for editing pictures, making collages, putting texts on pictures, etc. It's what I use to make header pics for my blog posts.
Glad you agree! Thanks!
Thanks! 🙂
Ohh…such an apt post Dee….most of us are so hard on ourselves that sometimes I feel, we fail because of our own expectations!
I am not surprised that you were an honor student. The teacher in me thinks that is great. You should have great expectations. One of the saddest things about teaching for me were the students who had given up on themselves and had no expectations of accomplishing anything worthwhile. They were failing only because they could not see themselves succeeding. Don't you give up on your great
life without expectations feels so good, but it is very difficult not to expect at all times, very well written 🙂
Thanks! 🙂
I'm glad you did that because now i'm going to get picmonkey! I love it. Nice little piece of flash fiction there Dee. 🙂
I am not surprised that you were an honor student. The teacher in me thinks that is great. You should have great expectations. One of the saddest things about teaching for me were the students who had given up on themselves and had no expectations of accomplishing anything worthwhile. They were failing only because they could not see themselves succeeding. Don't you give up on your great
It's a website. I really love it! You can use it for editing pictures, making collages, putting texts on pictures, etc. It's what I use to make header pics for my blog posts.
I totally get what you mean, especially coming from an Asian culture, where there are always such high expectations! I set the standard pretty low for my general behaviour vis-a-vis my relatives so that there were no great expectations from them! LOL!!
It is always good to give no expectations to people and set some expectations just for urself<br />Good one 🙂
Ohh…such an apt post Dee….most of us are so hard on ourselves that sometimes I feel, we fail because of our own expectations!
life without expectations feels so good, but it is very difficult not to expect at all times, very well written 🙂
So very true Hei Dee.
Glad you agree! Thanks!