I've been known to jokingly say that if you're struggling to find contentment, you just need to lower your expectations. The funny thing is, I don't think it's really a joke.
When you walk into any situation, you have the prospect of being either pleasantly surprised, wildly disappointed, or anywhere in between, based entirely on what you were expecting when you walked in. For instance, if you were expecting a nice fat tax return and you got only a little money back, you would be disappointed; whereas getting that little bit back in a year you were expecting to owe money would leave you walking on clouds.
Every year at Christmastime we watch "It's A Wonderful Life" as a family. If you're not familiar with the flick you should do 2 things right away: 1] crawl out from under the rock you've been living under, and 2] WATCH THE MOVIE ALREADY!!! In the movie, Jimmy Stewart plays the guy who keeps sacrificially putting the needs of others ahead of his own until he finally reaches a breaking point and decides to commit suicide so that his family can at least get his life insurance money, and because he'll probably be going to prison (in uncle Billy's place) for bank fraud. His guardian angel shows up to stop him and proceeds to show him what the world would look like if he had never been born. After a depressing tour of his hometown - without any trace of him in it - (including an encounter with his wife who has never met him), he's returned to "normal" and proceeds to be overjoyed by all of the mundane, average, and even irritating aspects of his existence. What was once an underwhelming life, suddenly looks like the greatest thing ever when compared to the idea of not living at all. It wrecks me every single time.
His expectations changed.
What are you expecting out of life? Does pop culture guide your expectations? Do you let movies and tv shows dictate what your life should look like?
If you're reading this, it means you more than likely have access to the internet, and unless you're reading this on a friend's device, you also have a computer or phone of some sort which has, from a historical standpoint, preposterous capabilities. Do you have an indoor bathroom? How about running water in your kitchen? Do you have electric lights in your house? Recently on a road trip, I pointed out to our kids the fact that we easily travel in 30 minutes a distance that most people in human history would have been hard pressed to travel in an entire day.
Isn't it amazing how luxuries can trick us into thinking they're necessities?
In short, I think the old saying "expect the worst and hope for the best" still has a lot to offer us today. If we wake up each morning just grateful to be alive, I believe we can start to chip away at the entitlement and skewed expectations that are so prevalent in our world.
Well said! It is always in how we look at it. We just had a brother and sister as guests over Christmas week in our B&B. Two more different people would be hard to find. She had a wonderful time and enjoyed everything. Her brother not so much. Yet they both experienced the same week!