How do I handle impossible expectations from the people I serve?

You can serve people well now, and still the impossible expectations bury you. Notice the word impossible. Some of what is asked of you genuinely cannot be delivered by anyone, and yet you take the weight of it personally, as though a better version of you would somehow manage. That is the trap. People in need often ask for more than any system can give, because they are desperate, not because they are unreasonable. Your job is to give them your honest best and a truthful answer, not to become the fix for problems far larger than you. When you carry every unmet expectation as a personal failure, you drown in things that were never yours to solve. So get clear, out loud when you can, about what you can and cannot do. A calm, honest no or not this protects both of you. It spares them false hope and spares you the crushing weight of promises no one could keep. Serving people well includes telling them the truth about the limits.