Sometimes Simplicity lies in Acceptance

What are you struggling with in your life right now? Think about it for a few minutes. Sometimes our biggest challenges are just that because we fight against them. We want to change them. We want to control things. Sometimes things that are out of our control. Sometimes things that are better left unchanged. But we struggle because of our expectations.

In life, I have found that it is better to live without expectations. This is pretty difficult in itself. I have had plenty of expectations in my life. I expected to go to college, get a great job, live in a fantastic place, and have a great good of friends. 

But life doesn't always give you what you expect. And sometimes it gives you more. And while I believe you are in charge of your own destiny, there will always be things in life that you cannot control. So what do you do when your expectations don't match up with your reality?

The first thing people often do is try to change that. They try to make their expectations happen.

If things don't change and expectations don't match up, then most people complain about their life. How hard it is. How much they wish for this or that. How they want more.

I am striving for the last thing people often try in this situation. Acceptance of the failure to meet expectations. 

That may seem a little self-defeatist to you. However, I believe a simplicity lies in accepting where you are right now in your life. This is not "settling." But accepting. Accepting that life today is probably not what I expected but "it is what it is" and I want to find the simplicity and beauty and joy in it regardless. 

Bottom line: Don't miss out on the joy of your present life, hoping for expectations in your mind that may or may not ever come to fruition. Look around you, accept where you are right now, and notice the joy of your life!