No Expectations=No Dissappointments

From 2007

I have thought this many times, but my last post about Santa Clause made me want to explain this truth even further.

How many of you have been disappointed in your life? I hope everyone out there is raising your hands, because we all have. But why? Why were we disappointed? It is because we expected something and it did not come through. Maybe it was a new job. Maybe it was a new toy. Maybe it was some girl we thought we could get and it did not pan out. To many things to name really, but we all have been there.

Disappointment and expectation goes hand in hand. If you expect something and do not get it, it sucks plain and simple. That is very true for these spoiled kids, and adults who were fed with a silver spoon their whole lives. This also goes for the rest of us. Follow this logic and maybe this should be one of those famous quotes in one of them quote books.

"If you expect something and get nothing, it’s disappointing. If you expect nothing and get something, it’s exciting. Plus, if you expect nothing and get nothing, well then it is nothing"

I threw that in quote marks because it should be quoted. All our lives we are told we can be this and do that, but that's not always true. How many of us dreamed of being a rock star, sports star, Hollywood star or something of that nature? I am using this for the base of my argument, but it holds true in all facets of life really. Most of us will never be what we dreamed of when we were young; it is just a fact of life. A very select and talented few see their dreams become reality, and most of us did not. What's the point you say?

Well, we were told all our lives we could be anything we wanted and make any dream come true we wished. They beat that into our heads in school over and over again. It was all a lie. Maybe not for some, but for most of us. So we grew up with these false hopes and expected (there's that word again) for things to turn out how we planned. Then we got older and realized our dreams were not going to become reality. This is where the disappointment sat in. All those hopes and dreams crushed just like that. This is another lie from the ones who are supposed to be teaching us about life and how the world works. Bullshit! Once again, this is dishonesty causing disappointment.

Why do parents or authority figures have to put these lies into kid’s heads? Why not tell them of how the world really works? The world is so much more complicated then the fairy tales these people teach their kids. Do not tell them they can, when you are not sure that they will. Do you understand?

I am not telling you to tell your kids not to reach for the stars and try to accomplish these dreams and goals. I am not even telling you to tell your kids that life sucks. I am telling you to be honest with them. Explain how the world really is. Tell them that sometimes you do not get everything you want, and do not expect it from no one. Without expectation, there will not be that level of disappointment. Like I said, this goes for lots of facets of life, even for grownups.

We are old enough to know how the world works and still we have expectations that might not come through. Shit, I want my son to be a football star and be rich and successful, but I do not expect it from him, nor will I be disappointed in him if he does not become one. I hope my kid has straight A's and never fails a class, but I do not expect it from.

I know the world is a little different than that and you do not always get what you hope for. That's the one thing I have come to expect, which makes me not as disappointed when it does not happen. Now when something does happen, like if my son does become that football star, it will be that much more exciting because I did not expect it. Are you still following me?

Like the spoiled kid that expects to get everything he wants. When he does get it, it’s not as exciting to him because he expects is. After all, he gets whatever he wants right? Where's the excitement in that? Now the kid that gets nothing and has nothing does not expect anything. Now what do you think he is going to be like when he does get something? He will he excited as hell, because it was unexpected. Now the boy who gets nothing and expects nothing, it is nothing to him because he is used to it and thinks nothing of it.

It all really makes sense if you look at it. The world does not have to be full of disappointment if you do make it that way. If you do not take for granted what you have received, and are not bitter on the things you do not receive or get in life. How can that not be the way to go through life and be content with you instead of upset and unhappy all the time?

I am just saying be honest with your kids and others. The world is a funny, complicated, but beautiful place. Let’s keep it that way and live life to the fullest no matter how little or how much life actually offers us. If we do not expect anything, then life will never be that bad. Our kids should know it, and we should know it to. Even with nothing, you will always have a smile!