Have you ever expected something to happen and it didn't happen the way you expected?
I expected something important to me, something new, to go a certain way. It didn't.
It kind of did, but in a different way.
But I wasn't looking for the ‘different way’, I was looking for what I expected.
I was disappointed, judged myself, asked myself “what did I do wrong”?
"Why didn't it go the way I thought it would?"
Chatting about this with a dear friend, she said “expectation is resentment waiting to happen” (Anne Lamott).
Hmm, that made me think.
Parsing it in my mind, I started to see the simple truth in it.
Expectations are our constructs based upon external experiences and input
Like when we were kids and may have heard
“do what's expected of you” for chores, where to go to school, grades, athletic performance
Expectations are externally influenced, goals are set internally, by me. By what's possible
I choose the goal, I set the goal post, I get to choose, I see what's possible.
24” x 38”” watercolor on archival cold press paper.
Have you ever expected something to happen and it didn't happen the way you expected?
I expected something important to me, something new, to go a certain way. It didn't.
It kind of did, but in a different way.
But I wasn't looking for the ‘different way’, I was looking for what I expected.
I was disappointed, judged myself, asked myself “what did I do wrong”?
"Why didn't it go the way I thought it would?"
Chatting about this with a dear friend, she said “expectation is resentment waiting to happen” (Anne Lamott).
Hmm, that made me think.
Parsing it in my mind, I started to see the simple truth in it.
Expectations are our constructs based upon external experiences and input
Like when we were kids and may have heard
“do what's expected of you” for chores, where to go to school, grades, athletic performance
Expectations are externally influenced, goals are set internally, by me. By what's possible
I choose the goal, I set the goal post, I get to choose, I see what's possible.
24” x 38”” watercolor on archival cold press paper.