"No expectations equals no disappointments"

Everyone, at one point or another in their lives has heard the saying "No expectations equals no disappointments". I'm pretty sure I tell myself that on a weekly basis to avoid stress and disappointment if my week doesn't go as planned. (NOTE: Even though we tell ourselves something, it doesn't mean that it will miraculously become easier to actually follow through with.) However, I believe that this one saying is a truth. A truth you ask? Well, for me a truth is something that can be directly applied to my life; Something I can take for face value.

I recently got to apply this saying to an experience I had (a first date).

I was set up by a friend and long story short, the date went well (in my humble opinion) and I had fun. It was a first date better than I've had in a while. After the date, I was being your typical girl and called my friend who set me up. He asked about the date and I gave him the details and told him how much fun I had. What he said next definitely stuck with me (hence this post). He told me, "Well if nothing materializes from this date, I'm glad you had a great day!" On my way home, I tried to really take in what my friend had told me and I really did have a great day, he was right. Instead of having expectations for the guy to call or contact me the next day and possibly being disappointed, I could just take the date for face value. I could appreciate the good time I had with another individual and embrace the fact that I had a good day. Something I haven't had in a while. What a concept!

We always have these ideas in our head of what should happen next or how we should act (Thanks Romcoms!) but what if we just embraced the date or the day we had and the good time rather than set expectations for what should happen next? There's no room for disappointment if we focus on the moment. I think we, ladies specifically, have all these ideas that have been embedded in us through various movies, media forms and society in general about what a date should be like, what a guy should do next, etc. If we take all those things for face value, we set ourselves up for disappointment. 

Moral of my story? I have NO expectations from this guy. I'm busy, he's busy and I get it. I don't want to have room for disappointment in my life so I won't set myself up for it. I'm choosing to embrace the good date that I had and the good time I had with this individual. If he calls or contacts me and we go out again, great and if not, then I had a great day on Sunday and a good first date to add to my dating list (there always seem to be more bad than good).

"We're so busy watching out for what's just ahead of us that we don't take time to enjoy where we are." - Bill Watterson