Would you like to know the secret to a happy life?
Have absolutely no expectations of other
people.
I mean it.
When it comes to other people, just don’t expect anything. It will save you a ton of disappointment.
That’s what disappointment is, right? When your expectations aren't being met.
When I say expectations, I mean all of the shoulds
we put out there. Things we think that
other people should be doing.
I know, I've talked about this before. In multiple posts. But it keeps coming up. It’s come up in discussions with people I
love in the last two weeks.
I’d like to clarify something. I’m not saying don’t have goals and aspirations. Have them, in spades, for yourself. Figure out the kind of person you’d like to
be and move towards that direction. That’s
hard enough.
I think it’s OK to nurse hopes for those you
love. Hopes that they’ll be happy and
have a fulfilling life. Hopes that their
dreams will come true. But those ideas
that you have? The ones that cause you
to endlessly lament that they are doing it all wrong? They have to be released.
Just trust me.
It’s better. Less judgy. It opens a whole other world of possibilities
up to you.
Maybe there’s more than one way to raise kids, or
be in a relationship, or have a fucking party, or pick a wedding dress. Just because it’s not the way you do it, doesn't make it wrong.
It makes it someone else’s way.
Just because I've put it down in nice words doesn't mean this shit is easy. It’s not. It’s a conscious decision that you make every
day. Sometimes, you’ll want to beat
people in the head with a baseball bat - in front of the police - because they
just don’t get it.
Really.
Like, for real.
But, I’m working on the kind of person that I want
to be.
Not on the kind of person I think you should be.
