Expectations Can Be a Female Dog

There are certain events in life where one aims to achieve something. That something may be an honor, an award, a friend, or even a material possession of personal value. People then do things so as to garner that something, and whatever that may be, the effort put into it is something that's worth looking back at. You see, people have this innate characteristic to expect an outcome when they feel enough effort has been put into doing something. Hence comes the problem - expectations can be a bitch.

Throughout my life, there have been many things I've aspired for - academic honors way back in my elementary days, the joys of life found only in the company of friends when I was in secondary school, and a sense of fulfillment lately, in my college days. Yet despite the change in priority that comes with the change of times, there are always these little things that never do. Happiness, success, and all the other things a child only dreams of are things we all want - that ever-elusive sense of having accomplished something for yourself in life. This can be manifested in a good number of ways, such as securing your future, being in love, living a comfortable life, or even leading a life that will make others enjoy theirs more. Truth is, the technicalities of how you should aim life towards isn't really that important. What's important is that once you do have an idea of what you really want, you should really couple it up with an even greater effort, something greater than the resolve you made when the concept of that goal first entered in your head.

Which brings me to the title again - I'm pretty sure a lot of you reading this post will agree with me that expectations can be a bitch. And by that I don't mean a word would magically transform into a female dog and give us humans another best friend - no, what I meant was that expectations are more than capable of draining us of our energy when we look forward to something so bad yet fall short in eventually gaining it. We "expect" things to happen because we "expect" that the things we did were more than enough to gain what we intend to have. Yet, there have been many a time where our "expectations" don't even come close to the reality - and expectations then leave us with our heads down thinking about what could have gone wrong. However, the damage has been done, and it leaves us wondering whether there should be a ban on expectations, because as much as how endearing the word may sound to our ears, the truth that not all expectations can be achieved still remains.

For the past year, there have been many expectations that never materialized, but none more than what I could feel right now. But what the heck, there's always this alter ego of expectations that makes me smile at the end of the day - and it's not a cigarette stick. Yep, they name it "hope," and it is this one thing that keeps me going on, expecting that things will be what my mind sees them as. It is hope that tells me that "hey! you're not dead yet, things will always have a chance of being alright", and eventually we then find the strength to pick ourselves up after a long, dramatic time of reflection and continue on working for what we will eventually gain - a personal success of hope over demoralizing expectations.

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speaking of cigarettes, i have never tried one.