Expectations

Expect a lot from yourself and you'll exceed everyone's expectations but your own.

This was a thought I had on the train on the way home from Showfit today. Personally, I am a big believer in expecting a lot from yourself. In many ways, I don't see the point in setting limits. I strive to achieve as much as I possibly can right now. I want to exceed expectations, and so for myself and in my mind, normal becomes not good enough.

But. This being said. Yes I find high expectations for ourselves to be a mainly positive thing, but lately I have come to understand how negative it can be as well. You can be very hard on yourself if you don't achieve what you've set out to achieve, and as a person with little patience for myself, I get very frustrated in this sense. If I don't get from A - Z quickly enough, I get angry at myself for not being good enough/strong enough/smart enough to be at Z already.

So when are high expectations a good thing and when are they damaging? Should we be easier on ourselves and as a result have to deal with less self-disapointment? Or should we push ourselves to be the very best we can be at all times? I know that people can be really damaged by other people's expectations, but self-expectations are more dangerous I believe. Much more. So what is it? A bit of both maybe... I don't have an answer because I am, at the moment, swinging back and forth between the extremes. I have moments of complete and utter "I can do this. I WILL do this. I am doing this!" mentality and then I get unbelievably frustrated because I can't do this or that and I think I SHOULD be able to do this and that by now. I should be improving. I should be stronger. What am I doing wrong if I'm not?

It's a riddle. At least it is to me. I know no-one can be perfect, and it's pointless to expect that because it's impossible. But I don't quite accept that on some deep, subconscious level. Or something like that. Bleh. Too much to think about! Too much to try to unravel. Maybe you'll have better luck?