Of expectations & disappointments!

Well, this is one of those blog journal entries that I make not because I have really put a thought into it, but because I don't have anything better to do...I have been wondering about what to write for a while - I have contemplated writing about homesickness - a feeling that I had largely over-comed few years back. Somehow, it has come back to haunt me and take my peace away. I thought about writing on bachelorhood minus KFC, Subway and similar food items. That largely turned out to be empty. And then, all of a sudden, my mind started digressed to think about the topic of this post.

The philosophical me often urges me to think about discontent and dissatisfaction that people, including myself, experience. All of us have pages full of sporadic cribbing and cursing when we blame life for turning out the way it did. On most instances, I realized that this feeling of despise and misery is due to the gap between our own expectations and the actual outcomes. Everyone can relate to that. A student who expected a higher score might score less and feel down. An employee who expects a promotion towards the end of the year might feel dejected in case things don't turn out his/her way. A son who expected a gift X may get a gift Y (where perceived value of X by kid < perceived value of Y by kid), et cetera.

What I have observed is that the sheer habit of expecting never dies down. In fact, with every passing stage in life, we learn to expect even more - expectations from job, expectations from career, expectations from family, expectations from relationships...and so on...Now, I won't be prophetic by saying that one should never expect things - on the contrary, expectations has its own benefits. It pushes people to stretch themselves to levels they never thought were possible. It leads to creation of new benchmarks and milestones. It is like kaizen - continuous improvement. But there is a pitfall. Seldom do people are realistic when they define their expectations. Irrational expectations when not backed by the desired results lead to the creation of the gap which throws a lot of things out of gears. I, for one, have personally undergone several such instances where my ill-founded expectations have only met the face of the bitter truth of disappointment. Every single time after these events, I have vowed not to fell prey to the trap set for me. Yet every single time, I have failed to do with-hold myself from this fatal attraction. There are lessons that people learn...and then there are some that aren't just your cup of tea.

On the flip side, there is nothing better than surpassing your expectations. Things sometimes turn more glorious and magnificent that you thought they would. Such occasions give you the immense delight and pleasure which your heart fails to engross. You feel on top of the world. Aahh! The sweet smell of such intoxication!

Well, I just hope that all of us get to taste the sweeter side of things, especially when we really need it.