How To Deal With Societal Expectations | Joshua Eden

The Overcoming Odds Podcast

Once upon a time there was a land that was happy and carefree. People could go outside and hug their neighbors. They could enjoy each others presence without fear of pain or suffering. Life was good as society progressed. One day, a dark cloud approached this perfect land. The darkness covered everyone and everything. People turned on their neighbors. Other’s shunned the darkness and did not heed the warnings from their fellow human. Many people perished rather than take shelter as the society lived in turmoil. Eventually the darkness passed, but not without leaving a residue of shadow in its wake. There is sun again, but with pockets of darkness that lash out on those who wish to ignore the suffering of the darkness. The expectation that everything is fine and sunny is based on the perspective of competing societies and ideologies. In this modern day fairy tale, societal expectation was that you can do whatever you want as long as you are not actively harming another individual. With a worldwide pandemic, this shift in expectations created a division between people who tried to protect others by avoiding contact and those who thought the illness was a hoax. Divisions were widened and people became ill. Depending on where you lived, you may have had a different set of expectations that you either agreed with or disagreed with, but had to navigate nonetheless. No one was spared from having to make tough decisions surrounding this terrible virus. This is just a recent example of the challenges people face when society flips on a dime. Joshua recognizes those same challenges and has his own views on how to deal with change. Join Joshua and Oleg as they discuss different ways to deal with shifting societal expectations.