Expectations

We all have expectations of each other.

As an employee, you are expected to behave in a certain way. You are expected to have certain skills and knowledge which reflects the level of your seniority in the organisation you work in. As a professional, you are expected to work or bill a minimum number of hours. And in order for you to continue your employment, you strive to meet these expectations.

As a leader or mentor, you are expected to have certain level of knowledge, and be readily available to the people that you care for. As a partner, you are expected to love your other half and be there to care and support him or her. As a friend, you are expected to do the same thing, but maybe on a different level. And because of your love for others, you try to meet these expectations.

We all try to meet the expectations of others. But ironically, we all feel that others are not meeting our expectations of them. Is it too much to expect others to show initiative to care for me and my problems, and not just telling me their own problems and expecting to me care for them? Is it too much to expect others to do to me what I would have done for them? Is it too much to expect a call, an sms or a msn message to inform me of what I need to know, instead of me always trying to contact them to find out what I should have been told and what I should have known in the first place? Is it too much to expect love in return for the love I give out?

Maybe true love for others is a love without expectations, a love that involves giving your all without expecting any return. Any return you get should not an expectation. Maybe we should not have any expectations from others at all?