I got up early. Too early. Shoulder was killing me and couldn’t sleep with it. So by the time 5 came around, all my kitty chores were done, everyone was fed and those needing to be released, were. I had even eaten my bowl of Frosted Krispies and was half-way into a black coffee.
I looked at the clock and thought to myself that this is crazy. I needed to escape and so I did.
I took what was left of my coffee and headed off to Lake Parker. I could finish it down there and try to clear my head out before any semblance of a work-day began to crawl out of the shadows in my brain.
Grabbing the 11mm lens was a last-minute decision and nothing really went into that thought process other than the last outing had the big 600 mm one. So, I guess I was just opting for something completely different.
It was quite a pretty twilight and I got a few decent shots which I have placed at the end of the blog. I hope you find something there to enjoy.
But taking pictures wasn’t my primary goal this morning and so I had no expectations of a great capture. And that is what led my thoughts to this blog.
In truth, I don’t believe I had any goal other than the actual getting away from the house and so I placed no expectations at all on the place I was going to.
Thus, no matter what I found there, I was not going to be disappointed. Hence the little bit of joy I found was both unexpected and delightful.
Very often in life we encumber ourselves with expectations. We place them on ourselves, on those around us, or on an event or a place. And the higher the expectations, the more likely we are to be disappointed.
It would be impossible however to go through life with no expectations and we would just become a fop for whatever was happening to us or around us.
So, as in most aspects of life, neither extreme presents the best answer.
And yet, the level of expectation is different for most of us depending on where we are in life, in our careers, in happiness, etc. Therefore it is only correct that we have varying degrees of expectation different to one another.
I tend to go through life with higher expectations on myself than those around me. That is because I know my capabilities and therefore can be more demanding of myself than others.
But there are others who demand more of those around them than they do of themselves and frankly I believe that is wrong. We should at the very least demand as much from ourselves as we do others.
Wherever you find yourself lying though, it is a good escape to do something for which there is no expectation. Maybe it is something you have never done before. Maybe it is something that you have failed at previously and are going to try again.
Whatever it is, treat yourself to it occasionally. Escape, if only for a moment, can be exactly what the inner you needs and expecting nothing of a situation, can bring a wonderful sense of carefreeness (is that even a real word?) that can give you Monday morning the ideal start to another grueling week.
It can also help you see yourself or others in a more agreeable light. And that’s always a good way to start a week!
… just a thought.
