Even though there’s a lot of talk about how entitled young people are these days, I see a lack of entitlement among all age groups in my practice as a therapist.
I see people putting up with pretty poor behavior from people they love, without uttering a word of protest.
Or, if they do protest, there are no consequences when the other person ignores them and keeps on behaving the same way.
There seems to be a pervasive fear — and when I say pervasive, I mean I feel it too — of getting too … uppity.
I believe this is a hold-over from childhood. Back then, our rights were limited and if we asked for something, we didn’t always get it.
Some of us had the experience of making important people angry by expressing our needs and desires. So we stopped asking for what we wanted/needed, and focused instead on trying to be good, humble, and generous.
We try to give others what they need, but when it comes to receiving, we’re often clueless as to what to ask for.
With this in mind, I thought of 8 things we should all be expecting from our most important relationships. How many of these are in place for you?
8 Expectations It’s Good to Have in Relationships | Psychology Today