Expecting

I bet you're expecting a really interesting post just from the title of it, huh? Whahaha.

It's been a goal of mine to expect less from other people and expect more of myself. If you don't expect anything, you won't be disappointed as much and you will be more grateful for what you have. It's really quite liberating. If you don't expect anyone to do the dishes you won't be upset if they don't, and if they do it will be that much more of a delightful surprise. They say the best things in life are unexpected--because there were no expectations. Anger comes from frustrated expectations.

 

On the other hand, we also can't assume that good things won't happen. Today I heard a really dynamic teacher telling a couple hundred missionaries, "Even if it seems like something just can't happen, it can!" Those who we least expect to join the Church sometimes become the most faithful members. It's sometimes a fine line between having faith and having high expectations I guess, huh?

Last night I had a class by a professor who blew me away with his story. He has Tourretts syndrome which is usually accompanied by ADD, OCD, and other mental disabilities, making it harder to learn. He had a high school counselor tell him that, basically, he was not smart enough to go to college. He told his mother this and she said, "So what? So what if you will have to work harder than everyone else? So what if he told you that?" Her response was extremely impactful on his life, and he went on to get a Masters degree of Public Health. He could barely afford for him and his wife to live during his masters program and would work all night and go to school all day to get by. But he finished and has had great jobs. Eight years ago his wife and mother died within 17 days of each other. A few years ago he felt strongly he should get a PhD and do research on Tourretts, even though he didn't necessarily want to go back to school. Now he travels the nation speaking about Tourretts and his research on how it affects families. He has had absolutely nothing going for him his whole life, yet has made so much of it. He tells all his students,

"You can do what you want to do!"

He likes to quote the movie The Unsinkable Molly Brown, "Nobody wants me down more than I want me up."

Sometimes we expect that "life will get in the way" and our goals will never happen, so why make them. We assume that we're not smart enough to do what we want, not good enough for a certain someone to ever be interested in us, not capable enough, experienced enough, hard-working enough. But honestly, if you're determined enough you really can do what you want to do (in the majority of situations). Even something as distracting as Tourette's didn't stop my professor from doing what he wanted.

The moral of this little post is, don't assume anything!

Post yer comments if you have any thoughts on this.