Who Set These Standards Anyways?

Hi Everyone, a Happy Weekend to you all, I hope you do enjoy the rest of the day, so to answer the topic from the Hive learners table.

To be honest here, society just always has something to say about how people should live their lives, as in there is always one standard or another like how you should dress, how you should talk, when you should get married, when you should have kids, what kind of job you should have, and even how successful you should look, It is like everyone wants to fit into this kind of invisible box that society has built, but see let us be honest here, sometimes these standards just don’t make any sense at all.

See, I feel like some of these standards might have been created with good intentions, hmm maybe to give people some kind of direction or to promote good values, but you see along the line, they became so unrealistic, okay take for example now , see the way people measure success these days, it is almost like if you don’t have a car, a house, or your own business before you hit 30, people already start to see you as a failure, lol, like, abeg, life no be competition na , you get?

Everyone's journey is actually different , some people find their way early, and others just might take time , and see it doesn’t mean one person is better than the other in any way.

Another example is the way society puts pressure on marriage, okay now, you will hear things like, (oh you are getting old, when will you marry?) or (All your mates are having kids.) like tf.. sometimes I just sit and think, are people supposed to marry because others are doing it, or because they are truly ready? I have seen people rush into marriage because of pressure and later regret it along the line, It is like the standard society sets doesn’t always consider people’s emotions, struggles, or timing at all.

And see don’t even get me started on beauty standards, the way some people define beauty these days is just too loud, You will see people trying to change themselves just to fit into what’s trending, from body shape to skin tone, even hairstyles everything now has a standard look, But I believe beauty should be how you see yourself, not how society defines it, some people are even losing confidence in themselves because they don’t fit into what’s considered beautiful by social media, like that's just so somehow like seriously.

To me, I think these standards become unrealistic the moment they stop helping people grow and start putting unnecessary pressure on them, like, what is the point of a standard that makes people feel miserable or not enough? Everyone’s story is different, what works for A might not work for B, If we all keep trying to meet one same standard, we’ll just end up frustrated.

It is also funny how society’s standards keep changing, what they used to criticize years ago, they now praise, for example, people used to shame women for being outspoken, now society is praising independent and bold women, so, you see, these standards are not even stable , they just shift depending on what’s popular at the moment.

At the end of the day, I think people should just live their lives at their own pace, society will always talk , whether you are doing good or not, there will always be an opinion waiting, but what really matters is that you are at peace with yourself, once you stop chasing society’s approval and start focusing on your own growth and happiness, life becomes less stressful.

So yeah, for me, these so called standards only make sense if they are realistic and flexible enough to fit into different people’s lives, the moment they start to feel like pressure, that is when they’ve lost their purpose, people just need to breathe, live freely, and define their own version of success, happiness, and beauty.

Because when you think about it, no matter how hard you try to please society, they will still find one thing to talk about, so why stress? Just do you, and let the world adjust.

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