What Causes Unrealistic Expectations
Having unrealistic expectations in life can cause a lot of suffering. If your expectations in life are not rooted in reality, then you are setting yourself up for a lot of disappointment. The repercussions of this can affect your mental and physical health, relationships, job prospects, and overall well-being and contentment. Unrealistic expectations can be found in many areas; below are a few common ones:
Expecting Others to Make You Happy
If you expect others to make you happy, you are not taking responsibility for it yourself. You may feel you can continue acting however you like, and it is up to the other person to compensate. This is ultimately going to make you both unhappy. You need to take control of your own happiness.
Believing Life Should be Fair is unrealistic
Life is not fair. If you want something, you are probably going to have to work very hard for it. Some people may have a lot of money, intelligence, beauty, etc. We are all different, and you need to realize life is unfair and focus on what you want and how you will get there.
Opportunities Fall into your Lap
This almost never happens unless you are very lucky. Believing that somehow a golden opportunity will somehow fall into your lap is such a naïve way of thinking. It is a cutthroat world out there, and everyone is out for themselves. You need to realize this and make your own opportunities, work hard for them, and become invaluable.
expectations that People Should Agree With You
You do not have a monopoly on what people should think. We all think very different things. If we all thought the same thing, there would be no wars, no disagreements, and no different political parties, and we all know these things exist. However, it is not all doom and gloom. Having differing options can be a great thing; it is how we learn, grow, develop, and evolve. Opening up your mind to something new can challenge your beliefs and make you a better person. However, believing everyone should agree with you is going to make you angry and upset and definitely result in you feeling depressed.
Assuming People Know What You Are Thinking
This is at the heart of all miscommunications, we all think the other party knows what you mean, and we assume that they are being hurtful intentionally. Answering nothing when asked if something is wrong is a very common example of this in the real world. How many times have you done this, expecting the other party to understand why? People are not mind readers. You need to learn how to communicate effectively and become more assertive to prevent things like this from happening.
Believing You Can Change Someone is Unrealistic
Getting into a relationship with someone who you can clearly see has flaws that you think you can change is a big mistake. These flaws should appear to you like big red flags to you, not little faults you can work on. You should find someone who does not have any of these red flags. You do not have the power to alter someone else's mentality.