Good morning everyone and a very happy TGIF to you all!!! The other day when I was scrolling through Facebook the following line popped off the page at me... Expectations are resentments under construction. Huh? Say whaaat? I will admit that this line took up much of my brain wattage this week. This just sounds like such a downer statement. Does this mean I should never be excited for something, never be prepared, never hope? I let this tumble around like a load of dirty laundry in my cranium trying to come up with real life examples of expectations I had had that had fallen short and the circumstances surrounding them. Ah yep, there they were.... I can remember when the kids were very little, a year and a half and three maybe, we decided we were going to take them to Disneyland. Looking back on it with my more mature self, I realize the idea of taking mere toddlers to an amusement park of that magnitude was insanity in the making, but we were convinced it was going to be great. I mean its the greatest place on earth!! Doesnt every kid want to go there, werent we going to win the parents of the year award that year? I had been many times as a kid myself and was preparing for all the fun things we would do. We would have to take in all the popular rides (no I was not expecting splash mountain), but certainly the Haunted House, Pirates of the Caribbean, Its a Small World, Bear Country... Like my father, I had our days planned out and what we were going to do and see. I am sure I dont need to go into great detail here, but needless to say none of my plans came to fruition...the most fun that was had was ripping up an unfinished hot dog bun and feeding it to the ducks. Surely we couldve stayed at home and done the same thing. For me, that trip was an epic fail...expectations not met. But that was years ago, surely I had learned from my unrealistic expectations... Then out of the blue, it popped into my head, it seemed so simple I almost overlooked it. Its just something I do on the daily but didnt realize it bothered me. You see I am a bit of a talker (shocking I know) and I think nothing of firing off a text message to random friends to strike up conversations, sometimes I just send a pleasant greeting to have a great day... What I didnt realize until I started thinking about it this week was that Im usually always expecting a reply and I really think deep down Im wishing that by doing so someone will just randomly send me friendly little texts to brighten my day. What a silly, little insignificant thing. Why would I expect such a thing? However, is it so wrong to expect things? Is it so wrong to plan ahead so that an event goes well? Is it wrong to wish that a Have a great day! message is reciprocated? Perhaps instead I should adopt the outlook of Eyeore, my favourite Winnie the Pooh character and just spend my days saying Woe is me. Perhaps if I just set the bar so incredibly low, anything would exceed it. Although that attitude may work, I am not sure that is the best solution. I mean, there is definitely something to be said for people and groups that set goals and objectives for themselves. It is these aspirations that push them to do and be better. And frankly, as much as I love Eyeore, I dont want to be him. So where is the middle ground here? As I got to thinking some more, the danger and disappointment doesnt lie in looking forward and the preparation of the activity but in its outcome. So perhaps we need to make our adjustments there. With our trip to Disneyland, I needed to realize that we didnt do all the exciting stuff I thought we would do, but were very fortunate enough to be spending family time in the greatest place on earth. And as far as my silly little text messages... It is not the reply that matters but the fact that I am fortunate enough to have friends that love me enough to put up with all my craziness. I guess the key is to manage our expectations, and not derive happiness from everything turning out exactly as we planned. Instead, we need to develop an attitude of gratitude and be a scout for the everyday fabulousness in our life. So my little spring peeps, today I want you to let go...release your expectations, so that you are free to be able to enjoy things for the fabulous they are, instead of what you THINK they should be... Let go, be free and notice the fabulousness...and remember I love you all! 馃挍
Posted on: Fri, 28 Mar 2014 16:53:45 +0000
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