12 times. i use the word "expect" 12 times.

me: "geez dad! why did your stupid ancestors decide to move to lame, unhappy america anyways?"
dad: "religion."
me: ".... oh... right... ok then."
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me: "hey nicky! guess where the happiest place in the world is."
nicky: "fiji!"
me: no.
nicky: "australia?"
me: "nope. denmark."
nicky: "really?"
me: "yep."
nicky: "hu."
me: "apparently it's because they have low expectations."
nicky: "isn't marijuana legal there?"
me: "apparently it's because they have low expectations and weed."
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about a week ago i was cornered by someone at work- we'll call him "crazy pants"- who wanted to know what i thought was going to happen with our company's website and if i thought we needed a "big picture person" and didn't i think he'd be great in that capacity? and then crazy pants started talking about how his life hasn't turned out like he'd expected it to and that's why he relates to my boss because obviously my boss's life hasn't turned out as expected either.
later that same night i was catching up on the phone with one of my favorite people of all time and as we finished up i said one of my awkward phone fillers like, "it's all coming together" or "it's gonna happen" or whatever it is i say because pauses in phone conversations make me uncomfortable and she said, "you know, i've been waiting for things to come together and they never do... my life is so not turning out how i expected it to."
fair enough.
i quickly commiserated. afterall, my life isn't turning out the way i expected either. but when i got off the phone i thought about it and that's not necessarily true because i don't honestly know what i expect my life to be. for the last few years it seems like i'm more focused on what i think other people expect my life to be and, regardless of whether or not my assumptions are valid, i use those assumed expectations as my measuring stick.
and, big surprise, most times i fail to meet those expectations.
i don't believe the key to happiness is lowered expectations. obviously. but i do believe surrounding myself with false expectations causes a lot of my discontent.

i don't know.
feedback?
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this commercial continually makes me laugh.
now, you might think this has nothing to do with what i just wrote but you'd be wrong because it takes place in norway. which is scandinavian. like denmark.
totally applicable.

Comments

Andrew H said…
One more reason Denmark is so happy, this is a website from a company in Denmark. So great!

http://producten.hema.nl/
Andrew H said…
Expectations suck...

Especially those that aren't met.

What sucks are the expectations that you THINK others have for you but don't, or you THINK you should have for yourself that you never really considered. Then you end up failing on some expectation that was never actually an expectation placed upon you.

Then you just eat more brownies and get fatter and then your expectation of being thin is gone.

Damn Post-Broken-Expectation-Brownies...
Nama said…
i think sometimes we base our expectations on what other's expectations are for us because it's the easier. easier than figuring out what we want out of life, how to get there, how not to freak out when it doesn't happen the way we want it, etc. it's difficult to keep up with all of it. somehow, there's a balance to be found between the "lowered" expectations and the genuine and reachable expectations you make for yourself.

if you ever find that balance, feel free to share. i'm still searching.

and i used "expectations" 4 times. not bad.
Anonymous said…
I have lowered my expectations and realized that as long as I'm happy, healthy, and going somewhere, I'm alright. I think of Buffy at these moments. She was killed twice, had nasty demons for significant others, and a crapy job at the double meat palace. But she was chipper.

Oh my gosh I'm a nerd.
matt said…
if high expectations = misery, and lowered expectations = happiness, then NO expectations = ecstacy

prove me wrong.
Kirsten said…
wow.
thank you.
you rock.
I liked this post.
and sometimes I wish I still lived in the carfree days of the villa.
Rach said…
Maybe you should consider moving to Denmark. But don't smoke any weed.