EXPECTATIONS GALORE

                                                    

"She will do us proud, no matter what. She has it in her genes. Everybody is eyeing her. She just has to do it."

She had to be all ears to the never-ending tale of her kith and kin. They had woven beautiful dreams of her future. Alina, was the center of attention for all of them - for those who loved her and for those who didn't. Amidst all of this, she had to face the brunt all by herself. Deep within her, she knew that she had to prove her loved ones right. After all, she never wanted to be a loser. Expectations were soaring higher and higher with each passing day. She could feel the pressure on her shoulders. She was aware of the fat that she had wasted away most of her time by doing nothing. A victim of callousness she was! The feeling used to keep reminding her that she was being watched by all; that she had to prove her mettle but she just couldn't do anything about it.

Call it her bad luck or bad approach, she was not in a position to do anything good to her 'loved ones'. She knew her condition pretty well. She knew that time was flying away so fast and she wasn't doing anything with the changing waves. She was so fascinated by time which passes so quickly that she always felt helpless at the end of the day.

Alina, the poor soul, was not in a position to rise up to the expectations of all the people around. So, she decided to call it quits. What a tragedy! She stopped putting in efforts and left everything else in the hands of the destiny. Oh! Those mighty words, promising talks and so- called expectations- everything seemed to be coming down to nothing. All she could do was to keep staring at the fire of devastation ignited by her. Losing faith in herself was the biggest blunder of her life. How could she under-estimate herself? She had the potential to achieve it but lacked the golden virtue of toil and hard work.

Days passed and she could see her fears turning into reality. She could see herself failing in all ways to the will of her fate. Her fear, lack of conviction and commitment were proving fatal for her. Instead of falling a prey to her callousness and the negative approach towards life, she could have mustered some courage and worked against all odds to fulfill those dreams, those wishes which never turned into a reality.

She became the reason for her downfall and out of frustration, she would accuse others of playing a part in her failure. That was expected of someone like her who had failed to take herself into control. Confusion and chaos, anger and frustration became a part of her existence. She was struggling so hard to get out of all of it. She was paying for her folly of under-estimating her potential. Had she tried to change her approach toward life way back, she could have saved herself from this misery. She lost the battle of expectations not because she was not worth it but because of the fact that she did not have the will power to expect anything from herself, to believe in herself. She had failed them all!

© Aiman