{"id":879,"date":"2024-04-01T08:39:48","date_gmt":"2024-04-01T06:39:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/?p=879"},"modified":"2026-05-12T01:49:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T23:49:34","slug":"hope-and-expectations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/?p=879","title":{"rendered":"Hope and Expectations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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A fortnight ago,\nmy student mentioned a book she had read about not having hope and expectations\nbecause they cause disappointments. This made me contemplate, as “hope\u201d is\none of my favourite words. Hope fuels the human spirit to persevere amidst\nchallenges and ignites positivism and pro-activism. If you want something to\nhappen, you work for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Expectations, on\nthe other hand, are projections of our desires. They are suppositions based on\nguidelines and principles. Joy is experienced when an excellent result (i.e.\none that exceeds expectations) occurs. However, expectations breed\ndisappointment when beliefs and assumptions are unmet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hope and\nexpectations intertwine. They help us endure our trials and triumphs,\npropelling us on our journey on Earth. Hope fosters a sense of possibility,\ninspiring us to aspire beyond reality, whereas expectations provide direction\nand purpose toward a desired outcome. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hope the war in Ukraine will be over soon. Pundits\nexpect it to end through diplomatic means and not through the barrel of a gun.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is crucial to\nbalance hope and expectations because they form the foundation upon which our\ndreams are built and realities are shaped. With such balance, we can navigate\nchallenges and strive for betterment and fulfilment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ve heard the\nphrase, \u201cHope for the best, prepare for the worst”, which means to desire\na favourable result while getting ready or making provisions for the worst\npossible outcome. As a noun, hope can have an adjective before it, e.g. \u201cbest\u201d.\n\u201cOur best hope is that we may be able to identify and avoid those factors that\ncause it to fail\u201d (Cambridge English Corpus\nhttps:\/\/dictionary.cambridge.org\/example\/english\/best-hope). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can we replace \u201chope\u201d with \u201cwish\u201d? Does the latter cause disappointment, too? To \u201chope\u201d is to look forward to a potential future outcome. I hope she will get better soon.<\/em> To \u201cwish\u201d is to focus on desires related to the present or past. \u201cI wish you a happy birthday\u201d <\/em>(Here, the word \u201cwish\u201d means \u201chope you have\u201d). <\/em>\u201cHope\u201d is more optimistic and forward-looking, while \u201cwish\u201d can imply unavailability or regret. I wish she hadn\u2019t got respiratory tract infections. <\/em>(Wish + past perfect tense. Hadn\u2019t \u201cgotten\u201d is also correct) ).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cThere is no medicine like hope,\nno incentive so great, and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something\ntomorrow\u201d.<\/em><\/strong> – Orison\nSwett Marden\n(https:\/\/www.azquotes.com\/quotes\/topics\/hopes-and-expectations.html).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what if we get\ndisappointed? Sometimes, disappointment makes us stronger. On the other hand,\nit\u2019s cruel to insist on giving hope where clearly there is none, as this causes\ndispiritedness and resentment — things that make our lives more complicated\nthan they already are.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A fortnight ago, my student mentioned a book she had read about not having hope and expectations because they cause disappointments. This made me contemplate, as “hope\u201d is one of my favourite words. Hope fuels the human spirit to persevere amidst challenges and ignites positivism and pro-activism. If you want something to happen, you work […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[134],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-personal-social-development"],"blocksy_meta":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=879"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":880,"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879\/revisions\/880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}