It seems that expectations have quite a bad rep.

Let me give you at least one reason why that’s unfair.

So, expectations play a large role in my coaching.

And it’s really simple.

When people who are in a really bad and confused and dark place hear about my history of mental struggle, it wakes something up in them.

I can obviously boast an impressive list.

Almost 30 years of alcohol and tobacco and weed addiction.

Around 20 years of almost non-stop depression.

And probably 15 years of grotesque, next-level anxiety.

That’s how it was.

That’s who I was.

For a long time.

But no more.

Now there’s this, this appreciation of life, this freedom, this lightness, this playfulness, this flow.

Radically different stuff.

So it’s doable.

Extreme, delicious change CAN happen.

And that idea, that notion, that possibility can be very helpful.

It sparks hope and a bit of optimism.

It opens up the door to some trust and fresh options.

And of course, sure, that’s just a game the mind plays with us, but it can be a tremendously powerful thing.

When people deeply believe that they’re fucked because they’ve been suffering for such a long time, seriously entertaining the option that it’s merely a painful misunderstanding, can be a huge relief, and the start of (quick) healing.

When people have heard over and over again that their anxiety is a disease and a brain disfunction, and they simply have to learn to cope with it, getting a clear sense that those claims are simply not true, can lift a tremendous amount of weight.

When people are severely addicted and believe they’re simply dealt a bad hand in life, a conscious experience of their habits can change all that negative thinking, and help them quit whatever it is that’s fucking them up.

Expectations can pull us out of something that felt solid and unmovable forever.

They can lift us up just high enough, so we can see some light again.

They can help us break through a period or even a lifetime of feeling stuck.

And those simple, modest, initial movements, can eventually change worlds.

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(Photo by @roger3010, for Unsplash)