UNITED STATES—Anticipation is something that can be both a good thing and a bad thing at the same time. It gives us something to look forward to, but at the same time, it can psychologically destroy the mind when those expectations fail to deliver.
Let me give you an example. I seriously cannot remember the last time I literally saw a stand still in America when people literally worked around their schedules to ensure they watched the big boxing match between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.
It was as if, it was the fight of the century, and everyone was talking about it. So when the big moment arrived, would it deliver? Well not so much, for a fight that many expected to be a fight, it failed to live up to the hype, the anticipation, we all hoped for.
We like to set the bar high for things we look forward to, but it’s an over-exaggeration of those expectations that have been placed upon us. It’s likely the brain is playing a trick on us. Those synapses are firing off in the brain with jubilation of something that we’ve waited so long for; and when it finally arrives or happens, it’s not what we expected it to be.
I’d like to say this is more geared towards materialistic things and specific events we might be waiting to happen. I’d like to believe that the birth of a child or a wedding, are moments where that anticipating does indeed live up to the hype.
Well with some weddings, that may not always be the case. Guess it depends on who you ask. It’s like watching the season finale of your favorite TV series, will the writers deliver all those knock your socks off moments, or will it just be okay?
Anticipation is related to both positive and negative energy. We’re positive individuals by nature, but something tells me time and time again we like to see the bad so that we’re not overly disappointed when something doesn’t transpire the way we hoped for it to. Disappointment is a tough pill to swallow; it’s like that test you study hours for, hoping for a stellar grade, only to discover that you underperformed.
Foreseeing the positive and actually preventing the negative from intruding in our daily lives is not an easy thing. It’s easy for someone to tell you to think positive, look at the good, but it’s sometimes a bit more difficult to envision what you want, if you’re not spiritually at a place to accept it.
I like to think of myself as a positive person by nature, but what I’ve come to realize is that the slightest bit of negative energy can ruin your aura. If one thing goes wrong that I didn’t expect, it’s a domino effect for me. Its like chaos has invaded my life, and I have no idea, no way of stopping it. When people say they’re negative because they’re surrounded by negative people or negative energy it’s a load of crap!
You choose to be; it a game of psychology that you play, some people interact better with a negative perspective than they would with a positive outlook on life. It’s a choice, you’ve adapted to what you’re comfortable with; that doesn’t necessarily make it right, so it’s up to you to decide how to break the cycle. I think there has to be a balance of what you know you can control and what things that are out of your reach.
Being a perfectionist, I’ve come to learn that letting some things slide is ok, not so much because you’re giving up control, but because you’re allowing yourself to decompress. We’re not all positive 365 days a year, could you imagine what the world would be like if it was? We’re not all negative though either. I say, in life positive energy outweighs the negative on any given day; you just have to see it from that perspective. In other words, anticipate the good, not the bad.
