Expectations. What do we think of those? Are you always disappointed when your expectations are not being met? Do you have high expectations of others, of yourself? Do you even have expectations anymore? Or do you hope for the best but expect the worst? Expectations. They can make you or they can break you, how you handle them is completely under your control.

Many of us have given up hope that we will be given the best by anyone or anything in today’s world. We have been cheated so many times that our expectations are at an all-time low. Perhaps, people and things aren’t delivering as they should, but your reaction to what you are being given is just as important. To give up hope on your expectations is to give up hope for your happiness. You cannot find your inner happiness expecting the worse. You should always expect the best from everything in life, but you should never feel entitled to it. Your gold standard in life should never waiver; for what you expect from the world is ultimately what you will get, it just takes time and patience.

Our lives are a product of the reality that we create. If you expect the best from your life, you will get the best that it has to give. While your definition of “best” may differ from one person or thing to another, what you have to understand is that at that moment in time, that is the best that can be given to you. If you are always disappointed by the best that life has to offer you, then you had better redefine your definition of best. You cannot expect to be happy if you simply expect the worse but settle for the best, this backwards mindset will lead you a happiness thieving habit.

So go ahead, keep on expecting the best from everyone you meet, but understand that what you are always getting truly is the best at that very moment. Instead of depreciating their best if it is not to your standard, help them to increase the value of their “best”. Entitlement will never lead to a happy life, but expecting the best from your life always set the value and the higher you set your value, the happier you will be.

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This blog post is part of a series of 26 that focuses on finding your inner happiness. Please check out the rest of the series here: The ABC’s of a Happy Life