There’s almost nothing more depressing than hearing someone say you should lower your expectations. Something about that just sounds like you should plan for mediocrity or even disappointment.
And while it may just be semantics, I think we need to change what we say - and how we think - about our expectations.
Having an expectation often means something exacting - like how we expect something will go, what we expect our experience will be like, etc.
When we have these specific expectations, we miss the chance to make something of WHATEVER things turn out to be and instead measure it by how right we were with our expectations.
If you go to a dinner party and expect a four-course home-cooked meal and it turns out they ordered pizza, you might be disappointed. Even though you actually love pizza!
What if instead we had VAGUE expectations?? Instead of expecting that four-course meal, what if you expected that you would really enjoy dinner? Then your expectations could be met by the food or the company or the ambiance…the possibilities open up wide.
So instead of lowering our expectations, what if we held vague expectations and actively participated in fulfilling them, irrespective of the circumstances??
