If you don't have expectations

As all the gifts are slowly making their way under the tree, the "what's in this box" question keeps coming up over and over, especially from my younger sister Marcie. It's fun- we guess which gifts we'll probably love and hate just based on the wrapping paper, shape, and feel.

Then Mom comes in (aka Buzz-kill McGee) and says "Girls, if you don't have any expectations, you can't be disappointed". And it was interesting.  What if we all lived without any expectations? What if we didn't expect the trains to run on time, we didn't expect the garbage to be picked up on garbage day, we didn't expect it to be warm in the summer or cold in the winter? Well, I guess it's true that you would never be disappointed. And maybe that'd be okay. But then I started wondering about expectations we have of ourselves, and the people we surround ourselves with, and I realized my mother couldn't be more wrong (sorry!). Sure, if you are okay with your life being the same every day, or you're satisfied with just "being", my mother may be right.  But if you are anything like me and have a hint of optimism about the future, you'll know you need expectations.

Without having any expectations, you limit your ability to be proud, excited, and successful. If I never held high expectations of the people I surround myself with, I might still be dating the kid from high school who dropped out of college and works at Rite Aid, or my closest friends might be ones who have nothing in common with me.  I also know I wouldn't be who I am.  I am the only person who knows my strengths, my weaknesses, my faults- my expectations allow me to push to the next level, to continuously grow into a better person.  Yea, some days I am disappointed.  But at the end of it all, I need to wake up every morning and love where I am.  More importantly, I need to love who I am.