Is that too much to expect?

Expectations can be double edged swords. What we expect from ourselves, from others, from work, from relationships - expectations can make us push the boundaries when things are going well, but when things don't go according to plan, the burden of expectations weighing us down can make the emotional baggage much much heavier.

I've heard a few people say - me included - that maybe if we didn't have any expectations to begin with then the disappointment would be much less if matters went south. It would be much easier to pick oneself up, dust off the disappointment and rejoin the game, so to say. The 'burden of expectations' plays a large factor in the negative criticism sportspersons face when they hit a bad patch and we've all seen this repeated ad infinitum with different protagonists. Does the same apply for personal expectations? Is it better to set goals and go about achieving them - getting crushed by disappointment once in a while or go about things one day at a time and just revel in the moment. Not having a lot of expectations before embarking on a task makes it much easier to recover from failure - that I can attest personally. But the very cause of low expectations was that the chance of sucess was very low in the first place. What about matters which are perceived to be easy, everyday things, where anyone has the chance to succeed. Is it easy to brush off failure then? Is it a good attitude to begin every journey with no expectation of outcome?

Its hard to put things in black and white so easily, and even more so when others are invested in your success and failures, or even when there is an audience watching (or you feel is watching). However, sometimes taking a step back and seeing what is really happenening is a eye opener of sorts.

Am I doing this because I want to or because I am expected to? is a question I have to ask myself a lot over the coming days.