Alex had always been the one with potential. From a young age, he was the bright, shining star that everyone admired. Teachers praised him for his quick thinking, his ability to grasp concepts that others struggled with. His parents beamed with pride, showering him with words like “amazing,” “brilliant,” and “exceptional.” Every accomplishment, no matter how small, was met with enthusiastic applause.
“You’re going to change the world, Alex!” his father would say, eyes glowing with pride.
“Anything you put your mind to, you can achieve!” his mother would chime in, always with that infectious smile.
At first, the encouragement felt like a warm embrace, propelling him forward. It made him believe that the sky was the limit, that success was his for the taking. But as the years went on, the cheering voices that once felt like support started to weigh him down. He felt them everywhere—family gatherings, conversations with friends, even in the hallway at school.
“You’re going to be a doctor, right?” asked his neighbor one day. “With your brains, I can’t imagine you doing anything else.”
“Top of the class again, Alex? No surprise there,” his coach would say, patting him on the back.
The problem wasn’t that people believed in him. It was that their belief started to feel less like motivation and more like an obligation—a burden of expectations too heavy to bear. The over-encouragement demon had quietly crept into his life, disguised in the form of praise and well-meaning words, but its presence was growing louder, more overwhelming.
This demon wasn’t like the monsters he had read about in books. It wasn’t a creature lurking in the shadows, ready to pounce. No, this demon had a bright, exaggeratedly cheerful smile, with eyes that twinkled with forced positivity. It was always there, behind him, whispering in his ear, “You’re special. You can’t fail. Don’t let them down.”
At first, Alex tried to live up to it. He studied harder, stayed up later, pushed himself to the limits. His grades remained impeccable, and the applause kept coming. But with each accomplishment, the demon’s grin grew wider, its presence more oppressive. The pressure to maintain perfection was suffocating.
The real problem began when Alex started to feel that no matter what he did, it was never enough. The higher he climbed, the more people expected of him. The more they cheered, the more trapped he felt. He could no longer distinguish between what he wanted for himself and what others expected of him. The lines blurred, and the over-encouragement demon thrived on his growing anxiety.
“You don’t want to disappoint them, do you?” the demon would whisper, its voice saccharine yet sinister. “They’re counting on you. What if you don’t live up to their expectations?”
It wasn’t long before Alex’s passion for learning began to fizzle out. The subjects he once loved felt like chores. The thrill of discovery was replaced by the dread of not meeting everyone’s sky-high hopes. But still, he couldn’t stop. How could he? His parents had told everyone about his future plans. His teachers expected nothing less than brilliance. Even his friends would say, “You’re the smartest person I know, Alex. I wish I could be more like you.”
But deep inside, Alex felt hollow. The more people cheered him on, the more anxious he became. He wasn’t sure if he could keep up the facade much longer, but admitting that he was struggling felt like failure. And failure was the one thing the demon wouldn’t allow.
“You’re too talented to give up,” the demon would say, its grin stretching unnaturally wide. “Everyone knows how gifted you are. You can’t let them down.”
With each passing day, the weight grew heavier. Alex began to dread waking up in the morning, knowing that the pressure to perform would follow him like a shadow. He stopped enjoying the things he once loved, and even when he succeeded, it felt empty. The praise that once made him feel invincible now felt like chains tightening around his chest.
One evening, after yet another exhausting day of trying to meet expectations, Alex found himself sitting in his room, staring blankly at the stack of textbooks in front of him. The demon loomed behind him, cheerfully clutching a banner that read, “You’re destined for greatness!” But all Alex could feel was a crushing sense of inadequacy.
“I don’t know if I can do this,” he muttered, his voice barely above a whisper.
The demon’s grin faltered for the first time, but it quickly recovered, its voice bright but with a sharp edge. “Of course you can! You’ve done it before, and you’ll do it again. Everyone’s counting on you.”
Alex’s heart raced. The words that had once spurred him on now filled him with dread. “But…what if I don’t want to be great? What if I just want to be…me?”
The room grew silent. The demon’s cheerful facade cracked, revealing a hint of the monster it truly was—an insatiable force that demanded more and more, regardless of what Alex wanted.
For the first time, Alex recognized that the demon wasn’t helping him. It wasn’t pushing him to be better—it was trapping him in a cycle of expectations that he could never escape from. He realized that the praise he once welcomed had become the very thing that imprisoned him.
“I can’t do this anymore,” he said, louder this time, standing up and turning to face the demon.
The demon’s smile wavered. “But they expect you to—”
“I don’t care!” Alex shouted, his voice filled with a conviction he hadn’t felt in years. “I’m not doing this for them anymore.”
With those words, the demon’s grin slowly faded, its bright eyes dimming. It didn’t disappear entirely, but it shrank, its once overwhelming presence reduced to a mere shadow of its former self.
Alex took a deep breath. For the first time in years, he felt lighter. The expectations were still there, lingering in the background, but he realized they didn’t have to control him. He didn’t have to live up to everyone’s idea of who he should be. He could just be Alex—no more, no less.
