I recently heard a friend describing a Christmas memory from his teenage years; He was sulking in the back seat of the family car as they traveled some distance on Christmas eve to participate in a far flung cultural event. His parents had grand designs, but my friend just wasn't having it.
His frustrated parents finally confronted him on his attitude asking, "so what do you want?"
He replied sarcastically, "I don't know - how about some chestnuts roasting on an open fire?"
...Tis' the season for unmet expectations.
We all try, especially this time of year, to do the right thing - the kind thing, to be generous and gentle, to fulfill all the expectations of the season. And inevitably we won't get it all quite right. Ours or someone else's expectations will be, to some degree, unrecognized. Or worse - ignored.
We all have expectations and personal paradigms that are simply unattainable and unknowable by even our closest loved ones - no less our co-workers and customers.
Happiness largely comes from things going as we had hoped they would: met expectations. The Christmas season is a great time to explore ways to gin up some more happiness.
Why not make this Christmas season the one where we each relax our expectations and add some grace to our personal paradigm? Dial back those expectations, and make happiness just a little more accessible. Meanwhile, invest in someone else, and surprise them with a little happiness.
Thank-you, our amazing customers and associates, who have made 2017 a great year, by blasting through our expectations and giving us another reason to be happy.
