Great Expectations.

Expectations.
The world is full of them. Jam. Packed. Full. Everyone has them. They have expectations for themselves, expectations for their children, their parents, their significant others, their friends, and the grocer who is bagging their food. We are constantly placed under expectations, from the moment we leave the womb until the time we die (give or take maybe a couple of years at the beginning and end of our lives). But expectations are hard. They are hard to have and they are hard to live up to.

We are in constant danger of letting ourselves down, letting others down, or being let down by others all because this one simple, yet complicated idea of desiring for others to act a certain way. Yet, as the world turns, they are an inevitable fact of life.

I'm trying to learn, as I grow older (and I can only hope a tad-bit wiser) how to stop myself from making expectations for other people. Or in the very least, how to give people the benefit of the doubt and some wiggle room when they don't meet my expectations. And it has been a hard road, and I suspect it will be a hard road for the rest of my life as I try to let-go of what I hope others might be, do or say. Don't get me wrong, I don't expect people to dote on my every need, or meet my every desire- but I often have high hopes for people. I often believe people will perform up to the highest level of ability, pull through on each task at hand and do exactly the right thing at the right time. This, however, is taking steak in the fact that my expectations for these people are exactly what their expectations are for themselves- a horrifically false and disappointing belief.

Some parents don't care if their children are spoiled- they call it dearly loved. Some teachers don't care if you have a life outside of school, or if you have 4 hours of reading in every class- they call it doing their job. Some children don't care if you want them to complete a task- they have their own task in mind. Some cashiers aren't doing their job to make their day better- they are doing it to put money in their pockets. So to believe that what we expect out of people is going to be what they deliver set's us up for utter failure.

Yet how do we cope with this failure day-in and day-out. How do we live with the fact that our parameters don't match up with the parameters others have set, yet still live a happy and fulfilling life.  I'm still figuring that one out... It's an uphill battle we call life- and if I ever do come across a viable solution, I'd be happy to share it with the many, many others in this world who are searching as well.