No Expectations
Happy 4th of July weekend for those in the States. (Fourth of July is my wedding anniversary, so I’m looking forward to celebrating this year as a family of 3!)
On Wednesday, we were on a walk in our neighborhood and came across a restaurant promoting an outdoor watch party for the upcoming USA-Bosnia World Cup match.
Since it was only a 15-minute walk from our home, we set the intention to come by later and vibe it out.
For context, I have not watched any of the World Cup. Last fall, I watched more NFL than I ever had in my life, and decided I'd used up my sport fandom tokens for the year.
With a baby and a business, I’m in a renewed period of giving as much time as I can to my dreams, rather than watching others live theirs.
However, for the sake of a nice family outing, we took a stroll and went to the watch party. I had no expectations for what it would be like or how long we would stay.
We got there and stayed for the entire second half. It turned into a surprise mid-week refresh and a lovely summer evening.
We enjoyed it so much, we plan to go to the next USA game on Monday.
But will we enjoy it the same?
You’ve likely experienced the phenomenon of loving a place you visited or an event you went to, and then tried to recreate it, but it wasn’t the same.
There’s something about leaning into spontaneity and trying something new that allows us to access a beginner's mind, free of expectations. When you don’t have expectations, there's nowhere to be disappointed. It’s all upside.
But when we do something again, we try to control the experience so it hits us like the last time, which is impossible.
In our case, we now know what to expect, so we might try to control—Will we get good seats? Will the weather be as perfect? What if the baby doesn’t get his nap in before?
All of this may mean we don't enjoy Monday the way we did when we were just freely checking things out.
As you go about your weekend, an encouragement to lean into spontaneity—let go of trying to get the most out of something and instead see what happens as you allow yourself to enjoy the moment.