"Don't expect too much of people, the less you expect, the less disappointments you'll face."

This quote has always bothered me.

Essentially, it is telling us to stop expecting so much from people so that we don't get our feelings hurt.

How pathetic and selfish is that?

If we each lowered the expectations of every human around us, we'd end up in a world full of people who expect failure and do not strive to be better. If people expect less of us, we can never rise above the stereotypes, the challenges, and hardships of the true and natural thoughts and reality of human nature.

And how selfish is that? To lower my expectations of the interesting, amazing people who were created around me simply to cause myself less hurt?

The truth is, we can't "prevent" hurt. We are human. We make mistakes, we forget things, we accidently hurt people's feelings, we let our emotions get to us. Hurt is inevitable. As much as we like to believe the people closest to us won't let us down, they will. And in return, we will do the same to them.

So expect greatness from people. Set the bar high. Make them want to do whatever it takes to exceed your expectations. Not for your sake, but for theirs. We can't be afraid to get hurt for the sake of saving our feelings and protecting ourselves. Expect amazing things and don't get so upset when people don't meet them. If they at least attempt at your expectations, recognize this. Celebrate this. r

I would rather sacrifice my feelings and my pain to propel the motivation of the people around me to improve themselves. We are human and we are all fully aware that we are not perfect. There is always work to do. And we know this. Most humans would say they are willing to work to improve ourselves. Our expectations of one another should be high and we need to put our selfish feelings aside to get over the fear of rejection and hurt to help out peers, family, and friends. We will receive less than expected 90% of the time. And yes, there is the reality that some expectations will never be met. But if we expect low quality, we will receive even lower quality. The higher we expect, the greater the quality.

Believe in the people around you. Expect more, and you will receive more.