I spent some time with friends today. They are so typical of humankind. They are afflicted with discontent. Their particular discontent happens to center around personal relationships, which is one of the primary discontents we all deal with at some point. We want the impossible, and when we inevitably don't get it from the persons we love and are involved with, the result is a nearly terminal discontent. Terminal in the sense of constant, but it also often ends the relationship eventually and so is terminal in that sense as well.
While all forms of discontent are burdened by the weight of expectations, none so much as relationship discontent. Few humans can boast of a relationship that is never strained by the stress of expectations. And we even have expectations about the other person's expectations! We weight that relationship with so many expectations that we actually frequently create problems where none existed in my opinion! Stop! Now!
Mitigating my discontent most often begins with me assessing my expectations and readjusting them to something approaching reasonable. Some will cry "settling" here, but if what is going on in my imagination (i.e. expectations) does not line up with reality, then one of them must give.
While all forms of discontent are burdened by the weight of expectations, none so much as relationship discontent. Few humans can boast of a relationship that is never strained by the stress of expectations. And we even have expectations about the other person's expectations! We weight that relationship with so many expectations that we actually frequently create problems where none existed in my opinion! Stop! Now!
Mitigating my discontent most often begins with me assessing my expectations and readjusting them to something approaching reasonable. Some will cry "settling" here, but if what is going on in my imagination (i.e. expectations) does not line up with reality, then one of them must give.
