Setting Expectations Too High

I think a lot of my friends would say that I usually "go with the flow." I'm usually down for dancing or movies or helping with a chore or going to a basketball game at the last minute. I like to be open to any opportunity that arises (plus I suck at saying no to anyone). But although I'm laid back in these situations, I always build up every situation in my head. I imagine that every experience will "awesome" and then am let down when things don't live up to the hype in my head.

I will plan a night downtown and in my head we dance and laugh and have the time of our lives. In reality, it's only two of us and none of the bars have any DJs and we drink too much and then go home and sleep.

I plan to go to a work retreat so I can learn new things for my classroom and interact with new people from other schools. In reality, sub plans take forever. I meet no one new because every school cliques together and the content of the workshop is repetitive and boring.

I planned to go to Scotland and thought I'd meet tons of locals and travel all over the island and meet lifelong friends and maybe even meet a guy. I imagined going to local pubs every night and discovering all the local hot spots. In reality, I had a hard time adjusting, difficulty making any friends, hated the food, and mostly just hit up the tourist areas on my own because I never talked to locals.

Even this past weekend, as I visited Iowa for the football game, I hyped up the experience. I assumed that if I'd be tailgating all day, I would talk to people from other tailgates and play games and make memories. In reality, it was freezing and most of the Iowa fans gave us death glares from their tents even when I smiled at everyone and we sat and waited for hours for what ended up to be an awful game.

I'm not sure if these events are caused by too much optimism or trying to control every situation too much or just bad circumstances. I'm not trying to be depressing. I'm just trying to think this through by writing it out. I guess I just need to stop expecting anything. That way, absolutely any outcome is refreshing and new because it can't be compared to my imagination. I guess that's why they say to "expect the unexpected."