65 Hilarious Comparisons Of What People Expected And What Was Actually The Result

Getting your expectations ‘right’ is tougher than it sounds. If your expectations are too unrealistic, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment, no matter how good the results (objectively) are.

On the flip side, if you set your expectations too low, then you won’t be as disappointed when things go wrong, but you’ll end up settling for less than you’re worth.

It’s good and healthy to dream and hope, but you have to balance it all out with a big dollop of realism.

Ideally, you want to be a realistic optimist. That’s someone who is resilient and proactive. You accept the challenges and risks you face while also being confident in your ability to overcome them for the sake of a better, brighter, more positive future. It’s much more practical than being an over-the-top optimist and more enjoyable than being a pure pessimist.

If your expectations are what you think will happen, reality is the truth of what actually occurs. The fact is that these two things often don’t match up, and this can lead to you feeling unhappy, frustrated, angry, or discontent.

According to Verywell Mind, social media can make your expectations more unrealistic than they would otherwise be. That's because you’re bombarded with seemingly ‘perfect,’ filtered, highly curated moments from strangers’ lives. So, you end up comparing some of your worst moments in life with other people’s staged ‘best’ moments.

“It's fine to have hopes - in fact, optimism in the face of challenges or changes can be a good thing. But having a very fixed idea of exactly what should happen or what needs to happen in order for you to be happy can lead to even more disappointment than if you faced the situation with an open mind and the understanding that things might not work out the precise way you wanted,” Hannah Owens, LMSW, explains.

The danger is that, in some situations, we’re so attached to our expectations of what reality should be like that we ignore what’s happening right in front of us.

This can, unfortunately, have negative consequences in our lives. It can prevent us from making decisions or taking actions that would serve our best interests.

Broadly speaking, people are inaccurate when it comes to predicting how they will feel and how (un)happy they will be in various situations.

“This means that our expectations might cause us to think that achieving certain goals will bring joy and contentment, but because these predictions are often wrong, we might pursue the wrong goals.”

One way to stay grounded and realistic and keep our expectations in check is to slow down and focus on gratitude. When you start appreciating what you do have, instead of expecting more or thinking about what you don’t have, you enjoy life more, leading to greater well-being and more happiness.

Moreover, when you keep your expectations more grounded instead of letting them outpace reality, you avoid considerable stress.