Expectations ... The Choice is Yours

The age-old question - is the glass half-full or half-empty?  Are you an optimist or a pessimist?  I’m sure many of us know those people who are eternal optimists.  They are always happy, sometimes bubbly, and always seeing the good in other people.  What is wrong with those people? How are they so agreeable all the time?

And then there are the pessimists among us, and you know who you are. Often easy to spot and hard to avoid…you see them around the corner and try to divert your eyes and run the other way!  Who wants to be around all that negativity anyway?  Some people are out there seemingly carrying around a dark cloud with them.  No thank you, I’ll be miserable on my own.  

Some days I think I’m an optimist and some days a pessimist, although I’d like to think I’m more on the positive side.  If I had to choose, I would say I’m a realist, but that’s probably what pessimists say.  But if you can choose, wouldn’t you choose to be an optimist?  Isn’t that more fun?   I think so, but I would bet that most people land somewhere in the middle of the glass half-full or half-empty, and it probably just depends on the day.  We can be a moody bunch at times. 

In some recent reading I’ve noticed a common theme emerging about the topics of happiness and expectations.  It seems to me that much of our happiness is based upon our expectations.  Do you remember as a child wanting something really badly, and then not getting it?  I bet you weren’t happy.  And what about a time someone got you the perfect gift and it was a surprise?  I bet you were very happy.  Expectations play a big role in our happiness.

G.K. Chesterton was a British novelist, essayist, and philosopher, and someone once said to him, “Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall not be disappointed.”   Chesterton brilliantly replied, “Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall enjoy everything.”

Now that’s some wisdom.  I don’t think we should lower the bar and expect nothing in life, but maybe we should re-consider our expectations from time to time.  Will we choose to be “not disappointed”, or will we instead choose to “enjoy everything”?  Life is short, so let’s choose to enjoy everything, and maybe someday you’ll be a converted optimist like me.   

“Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall enjoy everything.”

-        G.K. Chesterton