It’s Monday, so I can think of no better question to ask you to start the week than this, “Who is absolutely going to annoy you this week?” You know the answer because, I will bet, you were thinking about this person yesterday, knowing that Monday was coming and you were going to have to deal with them yet again this week. Am I right? 

Fortunately, I have an answer for both of us! The vast majority of our mental, emotional, and spiritual suffering comes from the tumultuous collision between our expectations and our reality. We tend to feel completely indignant (speaking for myself here) and we further pain ourselves with outrage at how reality dared defy what we demanded of it. And there’s the answer! We can’t bend reality (as much as we would like to), so the answer is to calibrate our expectations!

Marcus Aurelius says this, “Whenever a person’s lack of shame offends you, you should immediately ask yourself, “So is it possible for there to be no shameless people in the world?” It isn’t, and you should therefore stop demanding the impossible.” Bingo! If your boss is a dimwit, why are you expecting anything different? If your colleague is arrogant, why are you expecting anything different? It’s the expectation that is causing our problems. Your boss is a dimwit, so expect it! And your colleague is arrogant, so expect nothing less. When our expectations meet our reality, as unfortunate as this is, it will no longer be upsetting. The leopard will not change its spots, so why do we keep hoping they will? 

Let’s GO! WE GOT THIS!
Beth