How to Stop Holding on to Expectations

Life is a rollercoaster to ride and enjoy

Photo by Itai Aarons on Unsplash

Much of the fun of riding a rollercoaster comes from the uncertainty of not knowing what is going to happen next. You do not know whether the next turn will be left or right, whether the next hill will go up or down, and whether a dark tunnel or a 360-degree turn will be thrown in somewhere along the way.

This is a large part of what makes the roller coaster so thrilling — the unexpected twists and turns. Unless you have ridden a rollercoaster so many times that you have its route memorized, you embrace the unknown and sit back and enjoy the ride.

Imagine expecting the rollercoaster to go a certain way, and being disappointed because the roller coaster turned left instead of right, or the hill went up instead of down. It would not be near as fun and you would leave feeling unsatisfied.

1. Live without regret

If you always live your life in a state of dissatisfaction because you are not doing what you think you should be doing, you will never be happy. There is no set timeline for life. Live your own life, and do what works best for you, on your own time.

The road you travel may be bumpy, but life is always under construction. Revisit the past to make sense of it and to reflect on the lessons you have learned along the route. Apply those lessons to the present and use them to avoid repeating past mistakes. Be proud of what obstacles you have overcome.

Maybe have not yet achieved a goal you set. Perhaps you are feeling down because you have not done something that you thought you would have done by this point in your life. Or perhaps you feel that others are way ahead of you. As long as you are working toward your goals, you will have a purpose, which is much better than wandering around aimlessly in life.

Keep in mind that you are exactly where you need to be. Just because you have not yet done what society deems the norm, or if you have not achieved what someone else has, does not mean that you have failed. You are just traveling down your own path with your own timeline. Give yourself a little grace instead of beating yourself up.

“No regrets in life, just lessons learned.”