It is quite astonishing how sports are linked to our everyday lives. The English Premier League (EPL), arguably the best TV series in the World, returned to our TV screens for the 24th season last August. Prior to its premiere, there was a lot of fanfare worldwide. Every fan predicted how the season would shape up.
Chelsea fans, brimming with confidence, were so keen for their team to kickstart the defence of their EPL crown whilst Arsenal fans, based on their team’s recent acquisition of World class goalkeeper Petr Cech and pre-season heroics, believe this season will finally be theirs. As a result, many predicted that Chelsea would easily defend their crown whilst others believed Arsene Wenger’s men have only Chelsea and Manchester City to contend with for the title.
However, their expectations have not been met so far. Chelsea have had a torrid season culminated by the sacking of Jose “the special one” by the club back in December. To worsen the matter, everybody has been taken by surprise by the form of less fancied Leicester City.
Leicester City miraculously survived relegation last season but have surprisingly lost only two league games all season to climb to the EPL. Perennial pretenders, Tottenham Hotspur have also exceeded expectations so far and currently sit above their fierce rivals Arsenal on the table with only Leicester City above them.
Just like football fans, how often do we over-expect and put so much emphasis on positivity? When do we come to know that we are expecting something impossible?
It is natural for one to have expectations; expectations play a huge role in our lives. We all have personal goals and visions; how our lives should be in 10-20 years from now, how our personal relationships should be, how our favourite sports team should play or how we should be rewarded for our efforts and thence expectations are synonymous with the word should.
In all honesty, when there’s love, there will be expectations. Whether it is love between a child and the parents, husband and wife, boyfriend and girlfriend or a fan and his/her favourite celebrity/sports club, there will always be expectations in any kind of love. In other words, we depend and expect so much from the others. Robert Greene wrote in his book, The 50th Law, “Dependency is a habit that is so easy to acquire…It is hard to resist. But once you give in, it is like a prison you enter that you cannot ever leave.”
Expectations have a huge effect on our emotions; they can make you happy as well as rob your happiness. We set the tone for disaster when we over-expect thereby creating toxic relationships and consequently, expectations kill love. Over-expectation is hard to define but it creates a perfect recipe for disaster.
Everyone in the world is governed by self-interest. We expect people to follow our own rules and principles, and share our values, dreams and experiences. We tend to expect more from others in comparison to what we actually have to offer. There is a wide gap between our expectations and supply but many love to disregard this fact and focus on getting the best. For example, everyone has a list of features he or she expects his his or her dream partner to possess but just a few actually work on themselves to be that perfect somebody we all desire.
Nonetheless, it is a fact that one cannot run away from expectations but it is important to set these expectations around reality. The reality of life is that none of us came into this world with a crystal ball so twists and turns are a natural part of life.
Realists are not scared to embrace the hard truths (twists and turns) of life; they weigh both positive and negative sides of everything life throws at them. The best option for anyone might be to embrace reality and lower their expectations.
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This article was first published on 9th February 2016 and updated on February 16th, 2016 at 12:11 pm
arinzeude
Arinze Ude is a PhD Student at the University of the West of England Bristol, UK, where he's exploring on the mechanisms of donor cell leukaemia. He shares his deep thoughts on his blog and the Naked Convos. He is keen to promote personal development of the Nigerian youth via thought-provoking articles.
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