Meeting your own expectations can be really messy

For almost two weeks now, I have been waiting for the bulk of books I have ordered online. My excitement in waiting hasn't decreased even a little and I am now scared that I'm expecting so much on what's to come. Whenever I feel like expecting too much, it is most likely that I'll be disappointed of the outcome. Have you had that kind of experience too? That maybe the reason why my friend has pointed it out that I am not someone who sets her expectations too high. It was a good thing, but a part of me still hopes for something really great whenever I'm waiting on something that's about to unfold.

Reading about Seneca's idea about not expecting too much felt like meeting a friend. His thoughts about meeting our own expectations seems very familiar to me. To quote the book I have read, "If you expect things to be perfect, it's no surprise that you might be disappointed. If you expect things to be bad, you quite often get a nice surprise." This has been my life as I evaluate the way I picture things. But don't get me wrong, I am still a hopeful person. When Seneca's idea sounded like how I am living my life, I was somehow offended. How can we picture bad things for ourselves? Why would we live a pessimistic life?

My ready to argue self was taken aback by his wise thoughts that followed his idea. No matter how we imagine things in the future, this doesn't affect what is about to unfold. What our imaginations do to us is protect and prepare us against the sadness of not having to meet our own expectations. It was looking at a pessimistic mindset from a different perspective. A lot of people have discouraged the thought of being pessimistic, we were all expected to lean on the side of optimism.

Pessimism somehow reminded me of Murphy's Law, If anything can go wrong, it will. In my ventures, I have always looked at all the possibilities of seeing a block on the road. This urges me to have a plan from A-Z. This and setting my expectations on a level where when I don't meet those, I can just be okay, have unloaded a lot of weight from my shoulder. Meeting our own expectations can be really messy, so how about we look into managing our own expectations? It's a skill that is not innate to anyone, it's something learned by going through the process of failing and succeeding.

In the book, this interesting and strange idea was also pointed out: "maybe our happiness does not depend on what actually happens, but on our expectations." This left me a great impression on where should I set my focus. Where do I look? I have realized that in life, what will happen, will happen. As I have said a while ago, I am a hopeful person. I have lived, despite the pessimism, in thinking about this thought: Bloom where you are planted.