Nothing in this world is perfect but many are thriving to be that perfection that doesn't seem to exist. One of the many things laid down to pursue perfection is what we call societal standards. Even in a family setting, there are both spoken and unspoken rules that every member are meant to follow so we achieve the family's goals.
Our society, whether we like it or not, have a great influence in our lives right from when we were born. Only that, how we use the influence from our society is up to us. We can't behave like an American in an African country, at least, not in most of the things because our environment has acted out on us and we have pledges to uphold.
But no, societal standards can not cater to everyone. We are all unique and have our headaches to deal, what one would call a success, another will call a step to the bigger picture. I think standards are not only hard to reach for many, it is also limiting for many who can actually go beyond them if there were none.
There are countless societal standards, in my country and many other countries, some are even world wide based standards. Standards are expectations our environment places on us, the individual citizens especially against our will. We see people getting married because they think if it goes beyond that time, people will point hands.
Here in my country, I've been faced with so many societal expectations since I could understand what they are. There was even an unwritten rule for the age one should be before he or she can be a secondary school student, I learnt of it and had to face that because I became one much earlier before my mates, it was quite a huge gap.
The other time I had to face a societal standard pressure was when I graduated from the university and everyone thinks I should have a job that keeps me out of the home daily. So much is expected from a graduate but somehow, many are not succumbing to the pressure but instead are finding their own paths that will favour them.
Right now, people are trying to pressure me into getting married because they think that's the next step, it's a standard that have been written without a pen. Trying to keep up with these standards is never the best idea but thankfully, it has also helped to shaped some people who could have been worse without these standards.
Over all, I think these standards should be very subjective to who choose to follow them or not, we all have our own choices to make and we shouldn't end up blaming these standards when things go wrong with our choices. Some standards are unrealistic and some aren't, it's our choices to decide what they are and play by our own rules even in the midst of countless rules.
Image used is mine.