Expectations vs. Reality

Think back to when you were little.  Remember all of the big plans and dreams that you had for yourself?  Now raise your hand if you have been able to achieve all of them.  For those of you who have achieved all of your dreams, I applaud you!  But for the rest of us, not achieving those goals can be a difficult thing to deal with.

When I was little I thought by now I would have a job where I helped make the world a better place, be married, have 2.5 dogs, be thin, have lots of friends and quite the social life.  The reality is I'm bored out of my mind at my job, I've never even been on a date, I'm still overweight (though I have lost some weight) and almost all of my friends are married with children and none of them love to watch baseball.  Bummer!  If I look back over my life journey I can see why I am where I am in my life and how I got here.  It makes complete and total sense.  But when I start comparing expectations from younger years to where I am today...yikes!  It's at this very moment that my inner critic goes buck wild!

There is a saying that goes, "you are exactly where you are supposed to be."  Now think about that for a minute.  Even at this very moment, you are right where you are supposed to be in life.  Kinda crazy!  I am one of those people who has high expectations for myself and others.  We're not always going to live up to all of those expectations.  That's reality.  Life happens.  But the real beauty in all of this is when you learn to be kind and compassionate to yourself and others when you're expectations aren't met.  Sometimes that's when the greatest things in life happen. 

Until Next Time,