… we are going to experience this cold, overcast and foggy weather for yet another week in these here parts. I guess I’ll have to make up a schedule to dry clothes over at the laundromat then.
A SECOND POST?
Just because I posted late yesterday doesn’t mean I should deprive you of the usual number of weekly posts. (LOL… deprive? Yeah, right.)
AS I WAS ON MY MORNING RIDE…
… a memory struck me. (It struck me so hard I was lucky not to fall off my bike laughing.) It was a memory about expectations. As a kid growing up in an equatorial region of the world, my cousin, Anna and I were both fascinated with snow. This is easy to do in a land where humidity and temperature levels average about 80 – 90 (degrees F & percent) pretty much 365 days a year.
We would talk about it and rhapsodize about running and playing in it with abandon. When we would meet anyone who had experienced snow we thought they were the luckiest people in the world… ever! Well, when I first experienced snow in my late 20’s… I was tired of the stuff within 10 minutes. Sure, it’s pretty and all… but it was also cold wet and slushy. All I wanted to do was get inside (anywhere) to some place warm and dry. The expectation that had built up for all those years came crashing down like a lead balloon.
That was not the only instance. I have been on trips with friends who will psych themselves out to where they are frothing at the mouth before the trip. Then during the trip they keep reassuring themselves with the (annoying) “this is going to be much fun” mantra almost to the exclusion of actually enjoying and taking in their trip. Somehow in their minds there was always going to be something better around the next corner. Of course, it never came. Then when they return the assessment of the experience deflates to the somewhat disappointing “yeah, it was ok” stance.
There is nothing wrong with feeling excitement about something… unless of course the expectation impairs the actual experience. But over the years my level of expectation has dropped. The long and short of it is… I have since tried not to build up (unreal) expectations around anything or anyone else. This is not as sad as it may sound. Actually I have found that life is better without it. This “don’t expect too much” mindset has added the element of spontaneous surprise. As a consequence every experience above and beyond becomes a bonus delight.
So, what experiences have exceeded your expectations… or what has sadly fallen short?
* BTW… the image in the post came from http://www.wiz-art.org/4