Expectations...

Traveling on a long train journey watching the beautiful english country side on a nice sunny day, I stumble on another thought this afternoon; One of expectations.. the word is rather simple but the context varies from individual to individual. It surprising how varied the meaning can get as it really means different things to different people. Scratching my head over this one, I think on what all expectations I have.. and immediately so many thoughts come to mind.. its getting complicated with the mind space being crowded as the search for the expectations move to wishes and dreams and even hopes. Again this is very individualistic, but for most people - the first thing is the expectations your near and dear ones i.e. family and close friends have from you. You would like to think that they don't expect much from you, if anything.. but you know it and they know it as well - there are always expectations. Probably the next come your own expectations. And this is a bit surprising to me, that we would realize and try to live up to the expectations of people who are important to us and we care for, above and before we do our own.

Expectations are generally situational i.e. they build up due to the circumstances that we find ourselves in due to our own choice or influence of external factors. For example, If you were reading this blog, did u have any expectations from it? Obviously they wont be there if you were doing some other activity. Not to mention that they will develop as you read on or if you read another one.. If i walk into a class, I am expecting so many things, from the fact that i find a comfortable seat, a good inspiring lesson from the tutor, a smiling and sweet smelling gal sitting next to me. these are not there if the class is not going to be there. As i am thinking on the trot here, I am also beginning to realize that expectations tend to evolve as well. You would probably agree that like almost anything, 'expectations' have a shelf life. Some of my expectations from yesterday are not valid today and some of today wont have any meaning for me tomorrow. Then of course, there are some expectations are more generic or holistic as well, like " I expect to be successful and do well in my life" (probably a very common one). To explore further, there are not only explicit expectations but hidden expectations. From the very beginning of your journey as kids , parents expect us to behave and be well mannered. Once we develop the capability to understand the environment, we fall into the process of having expectations like meeting friendly people, getting good at job, be good at doing subjects in school, earning money, being famous and the list goes on. The role that one plays in life might change from a baby to teenager to an adult to a married person to old age, but the hidden or implicit expectations are always there and probably increasing.

Moving further on, are expectations good or bad? probably many schools of thought on this one. Two that stand out from common sense would be, expectations give a direction, a target or a goal and give u inspiration to fulfill them. The other one and quite contrary would be that expectations degrade performance, because they might be unrealistic and like pointed out earlier be more of desperate hopes rather than expectations. I would be tempted as the author of this piece, to take a middle road.. why not? My view is that expectations are good as long and base them on a true evaluation of the any criteria that can contribute to the judgement. And I ll tell you from the little yet vast experience of 24 years experience of expecting, this is easier said than done. The key is to expect the right things and keep the expectations as expectations, and not let them become wishes and hopes. The, wishes and hopes, have their own place and we shall get into that some other time.

Expectations are a fact of life and an integral part of our story on this planet. So lets expect and enjoy them for they are own minds creation after all. For now.. I am "expecting" that i do well at the job interview tomorrow in glasgow..

Cheers!