Never Expect Anything From Anyone.

Surprise is the greatest gift which life can grant us.

Boris Pasternak

Today I will offer you the simplest advice for a happy life, and yet the hardest to actually implement. And it’s this…

Never expect anything from anyone.

 Sounds simple enough, right? Well in a world where everyone thinks the world owes them everything, people don’t notice just how rampant their entitlement has become. And it’s not just an attitude of social entitlement. Notice how you can expect your friends or family to drop everything to help you out even in the simplest things, and where they don’t or can’t, you treat it as a personal attack or betrayal. This is specially amusing when done by people who wouldn’t life a finger to help anyone else.

With the holiday season around the corner, people might start assuming that they will receive something special, or some surprise, and when they don’t or if the surprise wasn’t up to what they expected, again, it’s treated like a personal offense. This will obviously confuse to no end the other person who probably has no idea they did anything ‘wrong.’

Here’s a little reality check that I have mentioned before. Nobody owes you anything.

Nobody has to make that special dinner, to go that extra mile, or to get that simple gift. Nobody has to care. And yet some people do. They put up with you, they go out of their way to help you out or simply to let you know they are there for you.

Appreciate it, but never expect it. Because the reality is, it’s better to be surprised than disappointed.