I am a big fan of audiobooks. I listen to them a lot, specifically driving to and from work as well as when I need to slow down my running. Often, I find myself stopping during my run to text a quote from the book to my husband so I can remember it and write it down in my notebook when I get home.
Yes, I still use a paper and pen notebook.
Recently I started listening to the Britney Spears autobiography and I’m really enjoying it. Any woman my age will tell you we feel like we grew up with Britney. She was us living a much more public life. My hold finally came through at the library and I’m diving in. During my run yesterday, she made a run stopping, send that in a text statement:
“I realized how powerful it can be when women defy expectations.”
Wow.
Expectations can be powerful in themselves. They can be cages that we commit ourselves to or they can be the catalyst that launches us into something greater. We have expectations of ourselves, of others and others have expectations of us – it can be hard to keep up. But we CHOOSE how we let the expectations shape our experience.
Right now, what is expected of you? To get up, go to school, participate, learn, be kind, work hard, practice, get good grades – sure, those are all great expectations and ones we should strive to meet. What do we do though when people don’t expect much from us? Do we let that define us? Do we do the bare minimum? What about when people expect things from us that aren’t what we want? Are we brave enough to disappoint them?
You may be a fantastic painter and you like to paint, but pottery is where you really feel you can express yourself fully. Or maybe you play soccer and you like it and you are good at it, but it’s not your favorite sport. Maybe you would rather focus on lacrosse or basketball instead. You may feel that people expect you to stick with the activity but you also have to ask yourself what you will be happy doing. In that way you will be defying their expectations.
Sometimes defying expectations means keeping true to what matters to you and your values. This is a good way to make sure you are living authentically and ultimately, living to be happy. There is a lot of power in living to make yourself happy.