No Expectations! Is It Possible?

Feelings by A Curious Mind 🙋🏻‍♀️

I know you would have heard this multiple times by now, “expectation leads to disappointment“.

But can you really expect a person to not expect?

I got to writing this article today because, I felt that I expect so often and for such small things! You might laugh when I tell you what happened today.

I pinged one of my colleague at work (thanks to the technology, now, you can see if your message is read by the recipient or not) and I did not receive any reply even though my message was read! This Bothered Me!!!! I get so restless if the person on the other side sees my message and does not reply. It immediately pops tons of questions and emotions in my head!

Did I do something wrong? Is the person angry with me? Should I send another message to check? Should I delete my message? Is the person intentionally ignoring me? and the list goes on….

Today when I did this… I wondered.. how stupid am I? And why am I getting bothered by such a small thing… Why am I expecting someone to reply in the first place? it’s okay if the person is not replying. There could be so many reasons for that. Why am I getting bothered…. Does it really matter?

And there! I understood how inevitable this feeling of expectation could be for some of us!

Later I read this quote, which made so much sense to me:

Expectation feeds frustration. It is an unhealthy attachment to people, things, and outcomes we wish we could control; but don’t.

– Steve Maraboli

Let’s break this down.

Why expecting something from someone is not recommended?

Because, when you expect something from someone, you put yourself in a vulnerable position. This position attaches your happiness and peace with the outcome of your expectation. And since you are not the one who controls the outcome, you just give your happiness and peace in someone else’s hand! As simple as that!

From today I will try my best to not expect anything from anyone, because I want to be the controller of my mood, my feelings.

What about you? Do you have expectations?

14 Comments

  1. sonalisharma09
    Reply

    Great you touched another touche yet important topic. I think one can’t stop expecting. It’s nature. But what I do deal with this thing is be prepared for both the ends. It may not be correct but it helps..my subconscious mind is somewhat prepared for the other thing too. Let me know your views on my thoughts blogger 😘

    Liked by 2 people

    1. A Curious Mind
      Reply

      Thabks for your comment Sonali! Yes it is good to be prepared for worse but best to be not expecting in the first place. Becaue even though you are prepared for worst you will hurt yourself! The very nature of expectations is letting your happiness in someone else’s hand.

      When you don’t expect than everything that happens is a bonus!

      Liked by 2 people

    1. A Curious Mind
      Reply

      Yes! It’s a weird combination I would say.

      I think it is all about you train your mind to be sub consciously aware of the repercussions of your expectations not getting fulfilled. Or just not expect at all (if that’s possible! ).

      Thanks a lot for your comment! 🙂 Keep visiting.

      Liked by 1 person

  4. sarthak2700
    Reply

    Very interesting points raised!.
    First of all, I don’t think it is stupid to expect a reply from someone who has read your message. Even I feel the same way when someone doesn’t reply.
    It may be just that people like you and I are more sensitive towards human relationships and so we think that not replying immediately is rude. May be other people don’t see it that way. For them text is just a message without emotions, so they might want to reply later and then forget about it. But it sure is very frustrating when you don’t get a reply. So don’t be too hard on yourself 🙂

    And yes, we can try our best to eliminate all the expectations, but as long as we live in this society we can never be totally free from it. This world works on interdependence, and so there will always be some amount of expectations involved! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

      1. sarthak2700

        Yes, absolutely 😁 If you get too frustrated by not getting a reply, it may be because you value human relationships above everything else. That’s a great thing and not everyone understands it. But it is frustrating indeed! 😂

        Liked by 1 person

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