Once again a post based on something I picked up from a conversation with a friend!
Alexander Pope once said, “Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.”
It’ so customary for people to advise you about having no expectations or killing them as a shortcut to happiness. Well, I don’t intend to say that happiness depends on expecting or not expecting. I just want to put some light onto a new perspective about expectations!
With your friends, family, at work or in your relationships, having expectations is inevitable. People who have expectations link them with happiness and disappointment. But it’s seldomly conceded as anything positive!
Don’t you think if someone is expecting something, it’s a kind of opportunity for you to shine? Say at work, expectations might mean that you are believed to have potential to accomplish something! It’s a chance for growth, for development.
Same goes true in relationships. Expectations, most of the times, can be directly related to love and care. People expect only when they are attached to you in a certain way. If you fulfill their expectations (in one way or the other), you win their hearts, strengthen your bond and nurture your relation. Even when you can’t, you atleast you know they love you and are definitely doing something for you, for it’s only then that they can expect!
If people expect nothing from you, maybe they think you are not worthy of doing anything! Sounds a bit harsh, huh! But if expectations are looked upon as opportunities rather than burden or obligations, they might inspire you do things you wouldn’t do normally. So true that perspective is so important!
Ruma Dak's Blog 
Expectations inspire us, and disappoint us as much.
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Yep, agree! Lets try to make the inspiring part dominating 🙂
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Am I ur friend?
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Yes you are Alexander Pope ! Thats why I used your quote 🙂
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Expectations surely helps to motivate oneself but it also brings a lot of burden and at times, it gets way too heavy to carry all of it.
My personal experience has taught me something,
That other people, how much ever, close they are when they start expecting things from you,they start burdening you. As if, they are waiting for us to fulfill their expectations and because of it, naturally fear resides in our mind. What if I fail their expectations?
And the other thing is, I feel that nobody should have the right to expect anything from anybody else except for our ownself. How can other people know what we want in life or what we are capable of or what our potentials are? They can just guess. 🙂
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Preeti! Thanks so much for stopping by and the comment 🙂
Well, thats one perspective… feeling burdened by expectations! I believe we are and we should be in control of how we let things/people/circumstances impact us!
As for failing is concerned, every failure is a learning too. Everything we do is a risk, every relation we make is a gamble.
I do not agree completely with what you say about others knowing what we can or what we cant do. I believe every person who knows us, knows a particular version of us based on what we we portray and what they perceive. So take advantage of that accepting that one alone cannot know everything!
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We should be in control but when people get close, they have an impact on us so we cannot be nonchalant about their expectations upon us, howmuchever we try, somewhere, it occurs.
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Yeah, agree. It varies from person to person.
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Ruma, this was different and a good way different 🙂 If changing our perspective a little can bring happiness, then it’s worth trying 😉
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Completely agree! Thanks for stopping by 🙂
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How can you think so deep….true article
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People inspire me Pounima 🙂
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I am a believer that exceptions do matter and do inspire. They may be even more powerful if they are self-generated.
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Amazing Thomas! Self-generated expectations… you always come up with something I miss out 🙂
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