Expectation versus Reality

"Expectation versus Reality, we often hear this phrase a lot, be it in social media or in-person. This is because there are certain events or happenings in our lives where we expected so much from it, but end up not meeting those expectations in reality. Sometimes, it could make us feel disappointed and sad, or we end up laughing about it.

Not to mention, I have experienced a lot of those "expectation versus reality" happenings. I have experiences in life wherein I was able to reflect on my expectations when life showed me the harsh reality. With that, let's go back to the time when I was still young for me to share the expectations that I had before in detail.

When I was young, I have a lot of goals and dreams in life. I already planned out what I wanted my life to become. I plotted a timeline in my head about the things that I want to achieve when I reach a certain age. Needless to say, those plans were so idealistic if I were to recall them. Like if I will think about all of them now, I will just laugh at how idealistic I was back then.

Now, here are some of my expectations in life when I was still young, and the reality that slapped me now:

Expectation: "Finding a job is easy."

Reality: "It's hard to find a job."

I could still remember when I was young, I always thought that life is an easy battle. I thought that we can get whatever we want in a snap. Well, you can't blame a young mind for imagining thoughts like it. I also thought that I can have my dream job the moment I finish my studies and I will be successful enough in the field that I'm taking in no time.

However, there will always come a time when life will show us how harsh the reality is. It will make us realize that life is not like the fantasyland we are living inside our heads.

Going back, the moment I finished my studies and tried searching for a job, I realized that it's not easy and it's never easy. There's a competition that we need to take to get the job. We first need to pass our documents to the company we are eyeing, and we prepared for the series of interviews that will be thrown at us. It's surely an exhausting process as there are a lot of things we need to take to reach our goals. Howbeit, after passing the interview and finally getting the job, it's indeed a fulfillment.

Expectation: "I can buy whatever I want the moment I get a job."

Reality: "Earning money is never easy, so as buying whatever I want."

As I grow, I thought that I can buy all things that I want the moment I have my job. I thought that I will have my car or even my own house especially in my first year of working. But then again, reality will show up in front of us and show us how hard life is. It will make us realize that earning money is never easy and with that, we can't buy all the things that we want.

As the days go by, we will realize that we need to pay our bills and needs first before anything else; even our wants.

Expectation: "I will live independently the moment I graduate."

Reality: "I'm still at my parents' house and still has no house owned."

This is one of the thoughts I have before, I thought that I will live independently the moment I graduated, but not. Well, I'm still enjoying my stay at my parents' house and I love being with them. It's just that, when I was young, I thought that at this age, I will have my own house to stay in, but unfortunately, I still don't have one.

Expectation: "I can travel a lot of places the moment I have a job."

Reality: "I have no time for traveling and bills come first."

Even though I am a homebody person, I still expected that I will be able to travel the world once I get a job. I thought that I will be able to save money easily for my travels and stuff. However, I end up staying in the house during weekends as I feel tired after a long week, or even I have no time for travel as I have a hectic schedule.

Aside from that, bills come first, and traveling is not a priority at the moment. Needless to say, I'm still grateful for my random trips though; once in a blue moon.

Expectation: "Life will be easier the moment I grow older."

Reality: "It's a prank!"

We can relate to it. We thought that we will figure everything out once we get older, but it turned out the other way around. As we get older, life becomes broader and broader. On my part, I realized that life has a lot of spins and turns that I need to go through, it's a never-ending one. The once clear vision that we had when we were young towards life suddenly became blurry. With that, we ended up with the thought that life will never be as easy as we thought it to be. It's not as magical as the fantasyland we used to live in our heads. It's not always fantastic or heartwarming; it's all-in-one. Howbeit, no matter how hard it gets, we should still be grateful that through the hardships that we've been through, we grow and we learn lessons that we can bring for a lifetime.

Now, those are some of my "Expectation versus Reality" moments where I got to learn now that I am a bit older. With that, I realized that the directions I once plotted never happened in the reality, as reality seems a bit complicated as it seems. Not to mention, change is constant in this world so we must indeed expect the unexpected.

Above all, no matter how hard life made us feel and no matter what plot twist we got in our journey, let's still be grateful for them as they helped us to become who we are today.