Lowered Expectations

No one likes the idea of having to lower their expectations. It puts one in the mind of that one Mad TV skit for a video dating service named, you guessed it, lowered expectation featuring some of the sorriest looking prospects that you ever did see. But it doesn’t have to be as bad as all that. One of my favorite TV personalities’, the good Phillip Humphry Dumphy of ABC’s Modern Family said. “The best things in life can happen to you if you just lower your expectations.” If you still don’t like the sound of that then try considering it managing you expectations instead. It’s not healthy to get so amped up about how you think things SHOULD be that you can’t enjoy life for what it is.

  This is often easier said than done. Real life just doesn’t compare to the fantasies we cook up from our favorite movies, books and television shows. Take the aforementioned show, Modern Family.  Like every family oriented sitcom no matter how bad the conflict or dire the situation, everything from death to prison can be resolved in 30 minutes. No one ever holds a grudge or throws a punch. Or how about one of the greatest love stories ever told, The notebook. You know the story about a young man who spends his life savings and recent inheritance to restore a house his teenage girlfriend mentioned she wanted to live in years prior.

 

In real life he’d have likely just hopped a train to go see if she still had any interest in their past relationship. In this day and age maybe just a drunk text professing his love and longing but that doesn’t sound nearly as romantic. Just because we sometimes have to lower our expectations doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have standards or remain passengers in our own life. Still it’s important to make sure our expectations are realistic and then we have to make sure the people we expect to adhere to them know what they are.

   You may even have to reiterate your desires more than once. You’ll also want to be specific, paint a picture. Try this one thing. The next time someone asks you what you want, whether that be to eat or for your birthday, tell them. Don’t be afraid to make your expectation of people known or put them through some pop quiz about how well they know you. Just tell them. There is really only one way to combat soul crushing realities’ million ways to lower your expectations and that is by stating them. Trust me just saying them out loud will reinforce your resolve to go after what you desire in new and creative ways. So yes, at times you will have to manage your expectation or change directions but doesn’t mean you have to give up. Two of my favorite actors, Terry Cruz of Friday and Everybody hates Chris as well as Ed O’neal both had to lower their expectations after being cut from pro football teams. Lucky for us they didn’t let the perceived failure stifle them. You shouldn’t either.