The Tragedy of Over Expectations

Hmmmmmmm

Everyone has succumbed to this ill-willed faith at some point in their life; both young, old, rich, poor, or whoever you are. Expectations are strong desires or emotions.

Merriam-Webster defines over-expectation as “the act or state of expecting too much in a given situation.” Personally, I totally agree with that definition.

While expectations refer to the beliefs that you hold about the outcomes of events. While these expectations can play an important role in determining what happens and can contribute to goal-directed behavior, they can also lead to disappointment when reality does not match up to what you had hoped would happen.

So, imagine amplifying the basic need for expectations.

In some cases, people might become so attached to their expectations that they are unable to see the reality of a situation. This can prevent them from taking action or making decisions that would be in their best interest.

Over-expecting often sets you up for failure or getting your heart broken. I am not saying it is bad to expect certain things from certain people. I mean expectations to an extent drive us forward, it keeps us going. If you weren’t expecting to be alive tomorrow well, you might as well have quit today but NO you didn't you kept on going because you expected to be alive tomorrow. This is a reasonable expectation.

Expectations, on the other hand, aren’t healthy for you I promise you that. I learned that the hard way. Most people like me (regular folks) often go through life learning from their mistakes. “Once beaten twice shy” that’s the only way we learn. So, I went around asking a few friends what they think about expectations from others, and it was close to the same for everyone

Finally, your expectations can get the better of you when you expect more than what is realistic in a given situation. You might expect your partner to live up to what you see in romance films, your job to be an idealized version you dreamed about as a child, or even your life to match what you see on Instagram.

Learning how to manage your expectation can be helpful when you are trying to avoid the expectations vs. reality trap. It’s important to take a deeper look into how your expectations stack up to reality (and how your mood is affected because of this).

Set realistic goals, do not expect much from people, practice gratitude, do not compare, be more accepting, adapt, and evolve. Just to list a few, but with these, you will be able to live a stress-free life.

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