Monday, April 26, 2010

Expectations vs. Reality

I was watching (500) Days of Summer again today and thought this clip beautifully summed up a few of the inconsistencies between what we would like to happen in certain situations and what actually occurs.

Tom desires and also expects that he will receive popularity, acknowledgment and appreciation. More importantly he also craves affection and intimacy from Summer. Instead, after the clip ends, Tom is left alone and rejected.

The discrepancy between his expectations and reality surely exacerbated
his disappointment. It would be ideal if we could change reality to align with our desires, but also quite unlikely. We could also change our outlook so that we expect nothing extraordinary, but then we will invite mediocrity. So how do we get a happy balance? Hope for greatness, but be resilient enough to not be crushed by disappointment? Should I just accept that life will not always measure up to the scenario that my imagination can fabricate? Possibly, yes... I say yes, only because I know that my mind can create any number of fairy tales that will never occur, or even if they did occur they would not bring the satisfaction that I had hoped for.

But our imagination is there for a reason. Our dreams and desires are fundamental to who we are as human beings. So I'm going to keep hoping and have faith that anything that can be manufactured by my imagination is possible. Whether or not the realisation of these things will bring the fulfillment that I desire is another matter altogether.

1 comment:

  1. I guess its really a case of you always want what you cant have. The grass is always greener etc. . . .
    So you really need to think, is this something that i really need or is it just a want?
    Stay tuned on Wednesday @ HG for more on a similar-ish topic.

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