Reaching higher

“There are two ways to be happy: improve your reality, or lower your expectations.” ~ Jodi Picoult

Lately, I’ve heard too many things that shock or disappoint me. Things that challenge my faith in humanity. Things that make me doubt the judgment and character of the folks around me. Things that make me anxious about the future. You too?

Part of the problem boils down to the fact that everyone is accessing more “news” than they can thoughtfully process and fact-check. (Thanks, social media.) And it frightens me — how easy it is for some to fall under the dark spell of misinformation and ludicrous conspiracy theories.

So what does this have to do with expectations and happiness? It occurs to me that my biggest disappointments, generally, are the result of expecting too much of other people. While today’s quote implies that one path to happiness is to “lower your expectations,” there are times when I think it’s actually irresponsible to do that. So I’m going to work twice as hard to improve my reality. I still want to believe that when you expect the best and reach for it, you’ll often get it.~CL