To Expect or not to Expect, That is the Question.

So true.

I went on a retreat with my youth group this past weekend and it was amazing. But we talked a bit about expectations and I thought it was very very interesting. Why do we always have expectations for things? You expect more things than you realize. You expect to live to tomorrow. You expect your parents to feed you. You expect the internet to work. You expect Christmas to come on December 25th. You expect the sun to come up in the morning. You expect water to come out of the tap. You expe--- nevermind, you get the idea. Okay..... Now: Are those expectations always met? Probably, those are pretty common ones. But what about a movie you recently watched? Maybe it wasn't what you expected at all. Maybe it was better. Maybe it was worse, but it probably didn't match your expectations exactly. So, should you have set your expectations lower? Maybe that would solve the problem. But what if we had no expectations? That was the question our youth pastor asked us (well maybe not those exact words but you get the picture) We all answered with 'You need expectations. If you jump off a building you need to expect something really bad to happen.' (again, not those exact words but we used examples like that) But those weren't exactly correct examples that's more of a healthy fear kinda thing. But expectations mean you need it to be what you expect. You NEED to get your schoolwork done. But what if you WANT to get it done instead. Wanting instead of needing relieves the stress that you're putting on yourself. You only need a few things in life. Food, water, shelter, an education, etc. But then you have things you want. Even on those levels. Maybe you want a gourmet meal every day. Maybe you want a mansion. Maybe you want to make it to Yale or Harvord or some top-notch college. You expect it. You don't need it. And if you let go of the thought that you deserve or need (expect) these things in life, and realize that if you don't have these things then you WILL be okay you can live a bit more stress-free. Now if you were at the retreat correct me if that's not what our youth pastor meant but that's what it translated as for me. I hope you enjoyed this blog post!
Adios Amigos!
Randomly Brainy