What if "Don't let me down" turned into "You’re free to be who you are" for a whole generation?

I was thinking or imagining the other day... What would happen if children grew up without some of the expectations that parents so often project onto their children. What would happen, for example, if the energy behind the words "don't let me down" turned into the energy of "you're free to be who you truly are"? And what if that happened for a whole generation... What would happen to our world?

So much trauma and unhappiness begins when people live their whole lives trying to meet the demands of their parents and not let those parents down. They lose their sense of self and they lose their ability to dream and do the things that they came here to do.

Growing up in the modern world, it’s the rare parent who knows how to raise their child to feel loved, competent, and capable yet without the undue pressure of mounds and mounds of expectations. Perhaps you’re an immigrant from the European or Asian continents like me and your parents encouraged (or let’s be honest, likely pressured) you to become a doctor. Or maybe you grew up with a family heirloom and were pressured to work in and continue the family business although your heart wasn’t in it? Or maybe you were pressured to play sports in high school and to follow your dad’s footsteps and join an NCAA college where you can play the sport?

The variety of parental demands and expectations is endless, yet their effect is one and the same. Too many expectations stifle, rather than build, a child up. And the child becomes an adult who is incapable of thinking for and being themselves. They grow up thinking and dreaming within the confines that their parents fearfully created for them, rather than within the bounds only of their own courage and imagination.

Too many expectations stifle, rather than build, a child up. And the child becomes an adult who is incapable of thinking for and being themselves.

That’s why I think a conversation of how we raise our children to be capable adults without forcing and pressuring them to be who we think they need to be is an important one to have. And I think if reminded each day that they're free to be who they are, children would grow into adults who feel good about themselves and aren’t insecure about following their own intuition and heart. They would feel free to pursue relationships, careers and lives that align with their own heart, not just those that make them look good on paper or that make them look good to other people. And in essence, these children would grow into much happier adults.

That’s what emanates from my heart when I think about the possibility of transforming the words and energy of "Don't let me down" into the words and energy of "You’re free to be who you are" for a whole generation. What emanates from yours? Let us know down below. I love to hear from you!