We live in a world full of
expectations, from the moment of conception, our parents already had
expectations from us – boy or girl; a few months in, and they expect us to
mumble words or walk a step or two; growing up, they expect us to be on the top
of the class where keeping the colors inside of the line is the hardest thing
to do. Life is full of expectations, some of them are met, but mostly are not.
The thing about expectations is that
we set them, we set them high, we set them high enough that we need another
pair of long arms to reach them, and then forget to consider that maybe it is
unfair to put it that far above. We can
try and reach them, but the reality of it is, we really can’t. I once heard in a class an interesting
philosophy, the instructor said, “Aim to pass, and you’ll fail. Aim to top,
then you’ll pass.” It was a few years back when I was reviewing for the board
examinations; at that moment, I agreed on the instructor’s words of wisdom,
that if I aim to top but failed to do so, I will at least fall on the next
lower rating which is a passing grade. I know that I can’t top, I know it for a
fact; but, I do know that I can pass, just pass. So I aimed to “just pass”…and
I did.
People tend to set very high
expectations even though they know that it’s
impossible to be met. People set very high expectations not because they want
maximum potentials to burst out of nowhere, but because they know that
something will screw up along the way. Expectations, they are not there to be
set high above the tallest mountain just so people will come tumbling down in a
giant avalanche. I am not saying that it is wrong to set expectations very
high; just be more realistic, so when one tripped and was not able to plant the
flag on the summit, it won’t be a very deep fall. Sometimes, expectations only
add up to the pressure, and when expectations are not met, come the disappointments
and the thinking that the person who failed to meet the expectations, is less
than what he is capable of.
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