How do High Expectations Lead to Disappointment?
Great expectations lead to great disappointments
High expectations are one of the reasons for disappointments. You might counter that by saying it is the expectation that at first sets our goals. Those goals help us in achieving success. However, it isn’t true. Goals, when set properly, tend to create some of the workflow and milestones and measurable steps in the process.
Expectations can be anything, from anyone, and aren’t always logical as opposed to goals and milestones.
1. Rational Thought
Expectations can be from a government, an individual, or anyone in particular. Imagine people having expectations from Hitler, and what he turned out to be. This is what happens with expectations. A rational thought will be about keeping the expectations considerably lower and thinking through the strategies people follow.
If you keep high expectations, especially from others, you’ll almost certainly end up disappointed unless you back it up with reasons, rational thoughts, and facts.
2. The Perfectionist Syndrome
Perfectionists are those who look for perfection in everything. Since perfection doesn’t come, they tend to get disappointed too often. This leads to anxiety. As per several reports, being a perfectionist is one of the ways of getting disappointed way too often. This is because of huge expectations they have from others regarding an overall perfection around them. In reality, we’re not perfect and we can’t be.
3. Expectations in Relationships
Be it from your parents, your children, your parents, your spouses, or anyone, the expectations are natural in relationships. They’re also one of the reasons why people hold grudges in a relationship when the expectations aren’t fulfilled. In reality, communication is the most important part of relationships, not expectations.
Therefore, anyone looking for expectations is bound to get disappointed at each stage of their relationship. Worst case happens when the other person has no idea what you expect of them. It is therefore important to communicate rather than expecting much from others.
4. Expectations from Ourselves
We all have a certain set of expectations from ourselves. We set our life goals as per the expectations. But we, like everyone else, have limitations. There is also an unknown variable in life that comes into play. Therefore, it is best to keep such expectations in check. If you carry many expectations from yourself, it will eventually lead to disappointment and anxiety.
You might also lose your self-confidence in the process if you don’t come up to terms with the expectations. It is always better to set measurable goals with smaller milestones instead of huge expectations.
5. We are Humans After All
At the end of the day, all of us are humans. We’re bound to fail at several stages of life. Sometimes, even with best efforts, the results don’t show. In such situations, knowing about a burden of expectations can hurt. It’s best to not allow expectations to hurt you. Any unreasonable expectation can come to hurt you in the form of disappointments, be it from yourself or from others.
