Leaving Room For the Unknown
It’s natural to have expectations in life. We grow up with people telling us that we will grow up and graduate from high school then we’ll get a degree or job. Eventually we will find that prefect job, that perfect person to live with, have children, grow old and have grandchildren. It is these expectations or ones like them that we strive to attain.
That’s great to have expectations of how our life will turn out but it isn’t good to form an attachment to a specific outcome because life has a funny way of changing it.
I heard a great thought about this the other day. Say you are taking a bus trip and it is supposed to be an hour long. Unfortunately along the way there are roadworks that delay the travel and the trip actually takes 2 hours – none of us would be happy. But if you take a bus trip that is supposed to be 3 hours long and the driver gets a good run and the trip only takes 2 hours – we would all be happy. Both of these trips are the same in length of time but with two very different expectations and then 2 very different outcomes and experiences.
It’s like life… we all think our lives will follow on the trajectory that we have planned but things my force us to slow down or sped up and take different routes. I thought I would spend my entire working life being a police officer, way back in the early 80’s when I joined, but life had a funny way of turning that around. Never in my wildest dreams, as a younger me, did I think would live on the other side of the world, doing a completely different job, then getting involved in elite sport again.
I have found that it’s really important not to form ridged expectations of what the experience will be along the journey. Remember that the goals in life can change so the road along that journey can change. Meet whatever you encounter with openness and don’t compare it with what you might have expected to happen. Go with the flow and leave room for the unknown, the surprises in life and the unforeseeable because they will undoubtedly be wonderful.
“Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed”
Alexander Pope