Expectations, Expectations

It’s been almost 6 months since I left my home in Puerto Rico. The plan was to come to Finland for a semester (5 months) and take some classes. Oh, how wrong was I. Everything changed in April when I got the opportunity to attend the Impact Suomi conference and take part in a HealthExpo in Vaasa, Finland. A local restaurant took part in it and I was amazed with it. Vegana, a vegan restaurant that focuses on healthy eating, provided the food for the whole weekend. There I met the owners and their story on how they put up the restaurant really motivated and inspired me. I have dreamed for a long time now to have my own restaurant, more likely a bakery. But recently I was feeling a bit doubtful about it and my spark was beginning to fade away. Hearing how they, with the help and guidance of God, built this healthy food restaurant as a mission center gave me a new perspective. All of a sudden I gained this strength and new vision for my future business. Then a crazy suggestion started it all: “Why don’t you come and work here for some time to see how the restaurant works?” I naively said -“Okay, sounds great!”- not knowing in what glorious mess I was getting myself into. After a series of miraculous events I find myself in Vaasa approximately one month later. It was an answered prayer. Correction, a whole bunch of answered prayers. I’m currently working at Vegana, learning in a vegan kitchen and creating priceless memories. I have done so much more than what I originally planned to do, in many aspects.

*Food from Vegana. Of course, my favorite part (dessert) is included ;)

All my expectations were surpassed. But almost everywhere, you find expectations being referred to as a bad thing. The most common quote could be “No expectations, no disappointments.” Or maybe “Don’t expect anything to happen. It’s better to be surprised than to be disappointed.” Why are we so afraid of expecting, dreaming, and hoping? It is a fact that we don’t want to feel disillusioned. When the world that we live in says “The higher the expectation, the harder the pain afterwards”; it is difficult to aim high in life. Are we subconsciously learning to be conformed with less?

Just because we can fail does it mean we won’t give it a try? The pain might come with or without high expectations. Yes, it hurts to be disappointed. And yes, achieving your highly-aimed-goals brings even bigger and better feelings: accomplishment and happiness. In my case, I don’t like conformism. If I want to reach something, I fight strongly to reach it. Do I get hurt? Yes; many times as a matter of fact. But I won’t have any regrets. Failure can teach us things that success never will. We ask so little out of life when we can be experiencing it to the fullest. And I believe in a God that can give you so much more than what you ask for. If you ask for something little, He will give you something big. If you ask for something big, trust me, He will give you something bigger.

You can look at expectations from two different perspectives:

The higher the expectation, the higher the disappointment.

-or-

The higher the expectation, the greater the achievement.

Which perspective will you make your own?

P.S.: Summer in Finland has been lovely. Everyone is so lively and nature is boasting with beautiful landscapes and portraits painted everywhere you look.
With it, a new chapter has begun.