Often we have an idea of what our life should look like. Thinking big and having a vision is essential in the process of creating the life you want, yes, but if taken too far, you might end up in a dream world with unrealistic expectations. You also expect others to act according to your plan. But they don’t know that and even if they do ? can you really control others? They have their own agenda just like you do. For example, you might expect your partner to behave in a certain way: to always clean after themselves, to smile and hug you, to surprise you, to buy you a big gift for your birthday. They are not perfect. No one is.

You also expect a lot from yourself. Especially if you are an over achiever, like many of us are, you get caught in this ?marathon? feeling of moving forward, pushing harder, having more success, producing more. Before you know it, your expectations from yourself are as high as the sky and you end up being disappointed.

Chances are that if you have a tendency to expect the impossible from yourself, you also do it with your partner, your friends, your co-workers and the whole world. You keep being disappointed and frustrated and your life is out of balance.

So how do you regain balance?

You pause and check: is this realistic? How can I phrase it (both in your head and when you’re communicating with others) in a more supportive way? How can I leave a window open to let others be who they are and find their own way?

After you re-set your expectations, make sure you communicate them clearly.

Remember that other people cannot read your mind. (at least most of them?)

While writing this post, I realized that many of my expectations from myself were completely unrealistic for today. My plan was to fit in 3 hours stuff that should take at least 6 hours.? Thank you, my dear readers, for being both my students and my teacher?

What do you expect from yourself and others which is unrealistic and how willing are you to change it?