After more than 2 weeks in Madrid, and an eighth of the way through my four month Eurotrip, I've come to the realization that expectations are dangerous. This is probably something that, if realized earlier, would have saved me a lot of anxiety in life, but alas, at least I'm here now. I spent the past weekend in Lisbon, Portugal. I went into the trip with no expectations and surprisingly very little knowledge of the country itself. In fact, upon arrival, our group was clueless even as to what the main tourist attractions were. And because of my lack of any concrete expectations, I was pleasantly surprised by the charming city.
"Shoot for the moon and you'll land among the stars." Found plastered on the walls of elementary and middle schools, this 'inspirational' saying is supposed to encourage kids to have lofty goals, high expectations. The theory is that if you try your hardest for something, even if it's realistically unattainable, you'll have exerted enough effort to have reached something else valuable. What they don't teach you in school, though, is that sometimes the disappointment from not walking on the moon may ruin the experience of floating among the stars. Why not just shoot for the stars (successfully) in the first place?
As long as you're putting in your best effort, expectations are useless, I'd argue even detrimental, to success. Maybe that's why I like rain so much. You're allowed to have a bad day on a rainy day, and usually, that relieved pressure makes the day that much more productive. And as it starts to rain on my window overlooking Madrid, I'll leave off here. (Not to mention I should be working on my PSC essay due tomorrow).
I'm going to make the most of my time in Madrid. Sin expectativas. Charles Dickens was always being sarcastic after all.
