This morning on my way to work, I stumbled upon a podcast that stopped me right in my tracks.

First, here is some background.

I am a college kid.

I am coming out of a season of busy-ness like I have never experienced before.

This school year taught me a lot about my boundaries as a human being.

I learned that we can't do it all and that there is more to life than a high GPA and a lack of sleep.

However, there is something I must admit.

I went into this school year with very high expectations. I wanted certain things to fall into place and I wanted to have my life more "together" by the end of the year than it was at the beginning (I know, what does that even mean, right? I don't think anyone really knows).

When I stood at the forefront of the semester last August, I had high hopes. I didn't really say them out loud, but in my head, I thought I knew that BIG things were coming.

Well, I wasn't wrong. Big things came and I said "Yes" to one too many things and my schedule began to shift and then shift again, and then fall apart and on came the abundance of tears and stress on a regular basis.

Now back to that podcast that I mentioned at the beginning, this is what it talked about:

You know how we enter a season with expectations. We expect marriage to be a certain way or a relationship to be a certain way. We expect new friendships to fulfill a certain void or a new job to satisfy something...And when things aren't how we pictured, we want to throw in the towel and throw a tantrum like a three year old in the grocery store.

Today's podcast was all about pushing through the idea that our expectations aren't the best expectations out there for us.

I may have expected the school year to be a walk in the park, but when it wasn't I shouldn't have freaked out.

My plans and expectations really weren't even ALL that great. So, what was right in front of me was incredible and marvelous in many ways, yet I failed to take it in and appreciate it because I was too busy day-dreamin' about what was "supposed" to happen.

You see, we have it backward. Life isn't about us.

We love the idea of "self-help" and "self-love", but a whole lot of freedom comes when we stop trying to take control of the future and what it will entail.

My expectations, yes they are there, but I am being taught that life is going to throw things in the way and your perspective on those things has a GREAT big influence on them.

You might be faced with a challenge that you didn't see coming. Do your very best to seek out the good in this and try to move forward my friend.

Keep in mind that the bout of pain that you may be feeling isn't going to last forever.