When I first met the Evil Twin, he taught me a valuable motto to live by: "Always expect the worst and you'll never be disappointed." I kinda thought that was rather pessimistic, but the more I thought about it, I realized it is rather optimistic. I mean, if you lower your expectations, whatever happens seems really great.
It helps me be more grateful for what I DO get than what I DON'T get.
I don't sweat the small stuff or the big stuff much. A few weeks ago, we had a drain problem that caused water to back up and it seeped out onto our relatively new (2007) berber carpet. About 3 or 4 feet of hallway carpet was discolored. The Evil Twin proclaimed it a disaster, but I just shrugged. It's just carpet - it can be cleaned and it was. We had someone come in and treat that area and also clean Buddy's room carpet for less than $100. Sure, it's a pain in the ass to have to shell out cash like that, but the way I saw it was "It's fixable." Either clean it or have that section replaced. Whatever. It's not the end of the world.
Shit happens.
Of course, some shit is way worse than other shit. When Buddy was born at 2lbs, 5oz - a full 3 months before his due date and spent 6.5 weeks in the NICU - people asked me how I could deal with the stress and be so strong. My answer was: "I have 2 choices - lay down and die or keep going the best I can for him - and I choose option 2." I can't say the entire ordeal was easy or didn't affect me in many ways, but I tried hard to keep upbeat. My expectation was that he would be home around his due date of April 15. When he was discharged on March 8, it was like a gift from Heaven.
Do you have expectations? Let me know. :-)
Love,
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Visit the others in the Madhouse:
Allison – Allimonster Speaks
Barb – Spencer Hill Spinning & Dyeing
Batty – Batty’s Adventures in Spooky Knitting
Dave – Notes from the Field
Evil Twin’s Wife – The Glamorous Life of a Hausfrau
G – Not-A-Box
Heather – She Flies With Her Own Wings
Jennifer – Ask Poops, Please
JMLC – Daydreams and Ruminations
Kate – yoyu mama
LC – LC in Sunny So Cal
Louise – Child of Grace
Marcy – Mittentime
Melanie – usually, things happen
Nikki – Land of the Free, Home of the Depressed
Sara – yoyu mama
“The best things in life are unexpected - because there were no expectations.”
ReplyDeleteCheers ETW!!
That too is my motto. I always look and try to prepare for the worse case scenario. It stresses others around me out but hey that's just who I am.
ReplyDeleteI don't expect the worst, but like Raquel, I try to be prepared for the worst so I can handle it when/if it happens.
ReplyDelete"The nice part about being a pessimist is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised."
ReplyDelete- George Will
That's pretty much how I go through life.
Expect the worst and you'll never be surprised.
ReplyDeleteI'm with the rest of you. I'm still disappointed occasionally but more often than not I'm pleasantly surprised.
ReplyDeleteExpectations are resentments waiting to be born. I'm also a member of the "It could always be worse!" camp.
ReplyDeleteI don't expect anything...ever...that way when even the smallest of things happen that others might shrug off, I get elated.
ReplyDeletePrior to last March, I would consider my approach to be pretty similar: adopt the minimal possible expectations and then bask in the unexpected results.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is, when you're already at minimum and you can't get much lower in your hopes and dreams, what do you do? How do you go any lower and still move forward?
This is my dilemma now. I'm still waiting for time, or inspiration, to figure it out.
It's an interesting notion that I've tossed around. The problem is, no matter how little I expect, I get even less than that!
ReplyDelete