So I was pretty happy doing things that made them happy, until I realized that they only bothered that I made them happy and didn't bother whether I was happy whilst doing those things.
That's when I realized that the idea of living for other people's expectations and putting up a false front, a very tiring and sad thing to do.
Sometimes it seems like the right thing to do. Maybe some people may thing that they need to fulfill their parents' expectations so they try to hard to make their parents happy.
But to me, I try to make them happy in other ways. Caring for them doesn't mean I need to fulfill their expectations. Taking care of their well-being is a different matter as living the life they hope that I will live.
And I think a lot of people may not understand this. That being caring or taking care of their parents or dependents is not really the same as fulfilling their expectations.
For example, someone may love scuba diving and decide to be a diving instructor. But may disappoint their parents, cos the parents want them to be a corporate worker.
But that doesn't mean that this person doesn't care about his parents and wouldn't be able to take care of his parents whilst enjoying work as a dive instructor.
So I think it's important to differentiate the difference between living someone else's expectations vs taking care and showing that you care for that person.
It's really 2 different ideas but very often, they are seen as one, or they are confused to be the same thing.
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