How to Avoid My Recent Epic Camping Fail by Setting Reasonable Expectations
Happy Monday!!!
I had GREAT expectations for my family campout last weekend and got a sharp lesson in setting reasonable expectations. I built a new camp trailer, got the site set up in advance and was looking forward to a lazy relaxing weekend… then everything went wrong.
I’ll quickly share the story with you without getting into too many details.
So I went camping last weekend with my family and some friends, it was going to be fantastic! But I had some expectations for a weekend of relaxing. I wanted to:
- Get there
- Set up camp
- Set my chair out by the fire
I just wanted to sit in that chair and relax, not worry about anything and decompress. I’d had an incredible week and this was going to cap it off.
What I ended up learning though was that I’d made a mistake… the mistake I’d made was that I hadn’t let other people know what my expectations were.
My wife wanted to have fun and be social and play.
One of my kids wanted to get wild and play in the mud and explore.
The other kid wanted to be kindof a home body and stay at camp.
We had unexpected things happen I left one of the batteries at home for the camper trailer, and I forgot to bring extra oil for the side-by-side to get it running right.
So that first day became hectic and I didn’t get to relax at all and because I had my expectations, I put myself in a bad mood which I then spread to my wife and daughters. Fortunatly my daughters were able to get a little separation and go play in the forrest and have a blast.
The point was that I needed to ponder on expectations I’ve learned that it’s ok to have high expectations in your:
- Relationships
- Life
- Career
- Goals
- Ambitions
But, if you have expectations, make sure that they’re known! I should have said ‘Honey, I really just want to relax, what can we do up front so that we can relax this weekend?’ If I had let her know my expectations, that would have made our Saturday a lot better.
So, this week, if you’re thinking of expectations or have expectations, make sure that they’re known and make sure they’re realistic so that you don’t have to suffer the unfortunate consequences of expectations that aren’t met.
Have an increadible Monday and I’ll talk to you again soon!
