DO YOU HAVE EXPECTATIONS FROM THE WORLD?

 “I always feel happy 

  Do you know why?

  Because I don’t expect

                                             Anything from anyone.” -  William Shakespeare

 When the whole world was confined within the four walls of their homes, and none could venture out without fear, during the pandemic, complaining never helped. Whom to complain to? Everybody in the world, without an exception, was in a similar or worse situation. All that we could do was to take precautions and protect ourselves. We lived in the hope that we would be relieved of this situation soon. School going children were very happy not to have school. But their joy was short-lived when days became weeks, weeks became months, months became years. Happiness turned to sorrow and then, to agony. Not being able to go out, unable to meet their friends, some of them confined to a room, all of this took a toll, not only on their physical health, but also their mental health. Many lost their jobs, businesses were closed, the economy took a bad hit, lives were lost. It went to that extent that people started losing hope of returning to a normal life. Disappointment was writ large on everyone’s face. It was wise to operate from our circle of influence rather than our circle of concern. We learnt to accept and move on in life. In fact, the pandemic taught us a big lesson in tolerance and acceptance.

 ‘’Expectation is the root of all heartache.”

 Nevertheless, we continue to have expectations from the world. We expect favors from our friends, we expect love in all our relationships, we expect the other person to apologize first, we expect parents to provide us with not only our needs, but also cater to our wants, we expect our teachers to be lenient, we expect the school to be liberal, we expect our country to be clean and the list goes on. We do not have a dedicated study time, but we expect to score high marks, we do not go early to school, but expect the gates to be open even after the bell, we don’t practice consistently, but we expect to  win a gold medal in sports, we don’t respect the other person, but we expect everyone to respect us, we are focused only on  our well-being, but we expect others to extend their help, we don’t practice honesty, but we expect everyone to be sincere.

 Our expectations from the outside world have no limits. It gives us nothing but disappointment in capital letters. On the contrary, if our expectations can be turned inward, we will experience growth. This has been my personal experience. I had this huge expectation from the world. I grew up as a love starved kid. I was too young to understand life. I was so pessimistic and disappointed with the people around me. “Why me God?” was my constant refrain. In my new-found maturity, I understand how the world works. Today, no matter how the world is, I have decided to be happy & peaceful. I will not hand over the keys of my happiness to the world. It is priceless. Momentary disturbances may be there, but I don’t stay disturbed for long. I bounce back soon. I have become more loving, happy, selfless, calm and peaceful in life after I dropped all my expectations from the world. I am no more the person I used to be. I started expecting more from myself. Thus, it paved the way for my incredible growth, both, personally and professionally. Today my past looks like somebody else’s past. Life is beautiful! Start expecting more from yourself. You are assured of unbelievable growth.

 #Thoughtfulthursdays #nsn #nsnschool #mentoring #parenting