Happiness…

Last night on 60 minutes there was an article on the happiest country in the world, Denmark. Yes, the Danes seem to have figured out the secret to happiness and what is it you may ask? Expectations. The Danish people are known for having incredibly low expectations and when interviewed they all said that you shouldn’t expect too much because then you’re always disappointed. If you had realistic expectations, when things turn out good, you’re very happy with the outcome. I think this is a really interesting concept. When I look at times and situations in my life when I’ve been the most unhappy, it’s always when my expectations were not met. Perhaps you date someone who you come to realize is not who you thought they were. Well, why were you thinking they were anything in the first place? How can someone ever hope to live up to an image you’ve created of them in your head? Within the workforce, you expect for your job to go a certain way, you expect to like going to work or to enjoy the people you work with…Does this ever really happen? I think the more realistic expectation to have would be this: I’m probably not really going to love what I do, but hopefully I won’t hate it too bad. That way if you actually like what you do you’ll be so happy with the outcome you won’t feel bitter at the fact that you don’t love what you do. This is the chronic American problem, we’re happy with our 1999 car, it runs, it’s reliable… But wouldn’t we love to have a new car? We could have a bigger, faster, brighter, louder car that make people think about us. Hmmm, lots to think about. I realize in the past 2 years, unrealistic expectations have knocked me flat on my back. I’m serious, I kicked my own butt with expectations, nobody is to be blamed but me. With this knowledge I’m attempting to spend more time just focusing on the present, focusing on what I’m doing, not what I want to be doing. This is a difficult task for me, but I’m guessing it will become easier and easier as time goes on. Regarding the Peace Corps and expectations… I’m a little scared. Of course I have already developed some expectations of what could be or should be or yada yady yady… But in reality, what I should hope for is: that is simply won’t suck. I’m attempting to change my expectation to a simple, please don’t suck, I can’t take any more suck so please, don’t suck.

Bringing God into the concept of expectation is also interesting. When we have our expectations for how something should be, are we not saying to God: my plan is probably better than yours? I know I’ve been more than pleasantly surprised with the outcomes of many situations in life that did not turn out at all the way I would have liked, but God just rocked it out in new and incredible ways. Sometimes I think God is watching me and thinking, Laura, you have no idea how much better I’m going to make that for you, just give it up. Oh well, something to work on…