Expectations

Life is so constructed that an event does not, cannot, will not, match the expectation.

When I try to think of the things that have happened to/with me in the past, I find this above mentioned quote by Charlotte Bronte so true. This made me wonder why I have so many expectations from so many things & so many people in life. More often than not, things don’t match up to my expectations & it leads to disappointments & sadness in my life.

But is it really possible for a normal human being to not have any expectations in life? Is it possible to do things because they have to be done & we shouldn’t expect something in return for it? Or is it that we always tend to have over expectations? Or should we expect the worst for ourselves, so that when something better happens, then we feel happy about it?

Yesterday was any eye-opener for me where I could say that I managed to find the answers to the questions that I have jotted down above to a certain extent. There were primarily three events to which I was really looking forward to yesterday. For each of the three events, I had different sort of expectations. I had no hopes with the one, neutral with the other & was pretty upbeat regarding the last. But none of the events matched the expectations that I had set for each of them. The only thing that remains to be seen is whether I am really able to learn something out of it & utilize those learning’s to handle a situation in a better manner in the future.

The first event was something related to a grave mistake that I had committed the previous day in the office. I can’t really disclose the event for obvious reasons here, but I had done something which was against the rules. And to add to that, it was an embarrassment of the highest order for me. I was expecting the worst outcome possible. My friends gave me assurances that nothing of that sort would happen & I would successfully get out of the trouble that I had put myself into due to negligence on my part.
Finally, the things that my friends had said came out to be true & thankfully my expectations did not materialize. Learning: Expect the worst for yourself, have no hopes, when things turn out fine, get overjoyed. :)

The second event was the annual day event that was to be held in my college. I was to receive an award for coming second in my batch. The last time I had achieved an award for academic excellence was way back in school, if I remember correctly in my 7th standard. I was eagerly looking forward to relieve those happy moments from school & get nostalgic all over again. But at the same time, I was not in the best of the moods due to the things that were taking place in office. So this really neutralized my feelings about the evening & I wasn’t going with any expectations for the annual day. But what an evening it turned out to be!!! After receiving the award from the Director of the college & watching the performances, all of us students came on the dance floor & set it on fire. I am a person with two left feet. But when the atmosphere is so rocking, one can’t help but just enter the fray. I have never ever danced so much all my life. I can’t really tell that I was dancing, it was rowdiness of the highest order, but I did manage to shake all parts of my body. I never thought I would shake my hips the way I did on Shakira’s Hips Don’t Lie :). I am really going to cherish this evening for a pretty long time in my life. Learning: Do what you are supposed to do & don’t have any expectations. Something good will happen on its own.

The third event was as such not an event at all. It was basically about making the plan for a future event. The planning for this thing started about 3-4 days before yesterday. I was talking to a friend about this particular thing to make it happen. There were too many deliberations & discussions that were taking place. I particularly moved back & forth many times on the things that were decided. Ultimately, I managed to spoil the entire thing due to my egoistic attitude. Actually, I was over-expecting or rather expecting things which I actually don’t deserve at this point of time or never will in the future. Learning: Don’t have over-expectations, especially when the outcome of things is dependent on others. It is also very important to empathize with the other person & not get angry or upset when things don’t go your way.

This brings me to the end of my post. I hope that I am able to retain all the learning’s from yesterday. There is one big event that is coming up for me in the next few days: my 4th semester examinations. At this moment, I am not prepared at all for it. But I hope to prepare & give my best. I will go in with zero expectations & hopefully something good will come out of it. All my readers wish me luck. :)

Till the next time.. tc.