WHY YOU SHOULDN'T LOWER YOUR EXPECTATIONS

Over and over again, people tell me I shouldn’t expect too much.  Whether it’s about relationships, what I want to do with my life or something as simple as getting a good grade on a test.  And I think that’s really, really stupid.  I’m an inherently optimistic person, and I can think of so many reasons why I shouldn’t lower my expectations.

YOU’RE LETTING OTHER PEOPLE CONTROL YOUR LIFE

When you listen to people who are trying to convince you to minimize your hopes, you are letting those people make decisions for you.  One of the things I have always stood by is doing what you think is best for you.  It may sound cheesy and cause some eye-rolling, but ultimately, I believe it’s what has made me as happy as I am.  Pessimism is pointless to me, and unlike a lot of negative people, I refuse to let it run my life.  If you want to achieve and experience all you can, don’t let negative people influence you.

THERE’S POTENTIAL YOU COULD GET EVERYTHING YOU WANT

I’m admitting that I’m 22 years, I’ve never had a serious boyfriend and I'm still single.  Am I ashamed of that? Nope.  This is probably the most common thing I hear people say I should lower my expectations about…relationships and boyfriends.  And I’m frankly pretty tired of it.  I’ve seen a lot of friends have boyfriends who didn’t treat them well, and then get heart broken.  I’ve also seen a lot of friends and family members end up with everything they ever wanted, because they waited.  They didn’t rush it, didn’t lower their hopes, and now they’re in healthy, strong relationships.

That’s what I want.  As high maintenance as it may seem, I don’t want to end up settling for a relationship I’m not passionate about.  I used to worry myself to sleep about how people make statements like "fine girl like you and you don't have a boyfriend" and "You will end up lonely oo". But I got to realise that society mostly expects us to settle for something we don't want just because we are supposed to have a significant other. I worry no more and I advise you to do so. What you want exist, just trust God and time.

IT CAN MAKE YOU WORK HARDER

Ever since I was little, I’ve always had a dream job.  Now, over the past years that dream job has changed, but I’d be lying if there wasn’t a little part of me that still wonders what it would be like to be a Neurosurgeon …I know…it’s weird.  Anyways, now I have high hopes that one day I’ll live in a big city with an important job that I worked hard to get.  I stay determined to be the best I can possibly be at my job, no matter what it ends up being.

If I lowered my expectations of what I could end up doing with my life, I would be underestimating my own potential.  I fully intend to follow my daydream and achieve all that I possibly can.  Yeah, it may be difficult to get to where I want to go, and it may be somewhat unrealistic, but I know that when I expect a lot out of myself, I usually live up to those expectations.

YOU CAN PROVE PEOPLE WHO DOUBTED YOU WRONG

I’m incredibly lucky to have such an amazing supporters and friends, but everyone has people who doubt their abilities along the way.  You just have to make sure you’re not that person for yourself.  If you keep your hopes and expectations high, and some day all of your expectations are fulfilled, you can prove anyone who doubted you wrong.  Keep your head up, stay positive and stay determined.  Chances are, if people were telling you that you couldn’t achieve everything you dreamed of, they believed that about themselves, too.  If you can block those people out and just focus on what you believe about yourself, the possibilities are endless.

IT MAKES REACHING THOSE EXPECTATIONS MORE EXCITING

This may seem like an obvious one, but it’s probably the biggest reward of keeping your expectations high.  When you finally get everything you want, it feels like everything you went through was worth it.  For example, I know that when I finally get my dream job or marry my dream husband, I’ll know I kept my expectations up for a reason.  I’ll be happy that I did, because it led me to the amazing life I’ll have.  I don’t want to lower my expectations because I’m confident in the potential to get everything I want.  Is that a ridiculous amount of optimism?  Maybe.  But I don’t want to settle for anything less than what I want, and I shouldn’t have to…neither should you.

You may hear it over and over again that your expectations are too high or you’re naïve to the world around you.  While it is important to stay realistic, it’s also important to stay true to what you envision for your life.  No matter what everyone else thinks, keeping your expectations high can be a blessing.  Follow your dreams and when you get to where you want to go, you’ll realize that keeping your expectations raised was smart.

This is probably the cheesiest post I’ve written so far, but it was also the easiest one to write.  People tell me to lower my expectations over and over again, but I’m not planning on letting everyone else make those decisions for me.  Stay positive, stay determined and you’ll be satisfied in the end.

-Angel