Have you had expectations? Expectations and our perception of them change as we grow from and adolescent to a young adult and eventually to an elderly adult.
As an adolescent you have few expectations other than food, shelter, love, and playing Xbox for hours on end. At this age, homework is your one true enemy.
Your growth into young adulthood changes your expectations from studying for your next college exam to prepare for a career and family. Here expectations are at their highest. Expectations of having a position, not a job, say regional vice president at Amazon out of college will soon wane. When reality hits and you realize you won’t get the VP position at Amazon and mom and dad have changed the lock on the entrance to the basement. Your perception of your expectations changes from a position as an industry mogul to an apprentice earning a livable wage. From here expectations change to a building mode. How do I build my career? Who can help me? As you build your career, your perceptions of your expectations will change to one of sharing your life with someone and raising a family.
Expectations of marriage and family will drastically change when you enter this phase of your life. Before, your expectations and concentration have been on your career. In marriage, they’ll focus on your wife and children. Expectations change to ones of compromise, concession, and sharing.
As you progress through young adulthood and enter your elder years, your expectations once again morph into one of a grandparent and wise sage to your grandchildren, spending leisurely days recounting your life stories to whoever will listen and maybe even write a book or two. Even though you are elderly, your expectations of building do not cease. Building a legacy for your children and grandchildren will become your focus. A legacy built by your example over your many years. A legacy of how to live life to its fullest. Not one of money and power.
My expectations have changed over the years, but one has never changed. The one compelling me to be like my father. He will leave a grand legacy for all the family.
