Expectations and disappointment

I was thinking about it a couple of days ago, about the relationship between expectations and disappointment, and I realized that the correlation coefficient was a perfect 1.00, if not just a few hundredths of a decimal off.

Take for example, when you've put in a lot of effort into a course and studied really hard, and because of all you've done you'd really expect to get a really good grade. But, when the papers are given back and you realize that you've done poorly, the disappointment grows exponentially. Conversely, if you've not put in the hard work, and you'd expect to fail or pass marginally, and you succeed in doing so, you're not disappointed.

So, with low expectations, disappointment hardly exists.

I think, for me, I experience so much disappointment and sometimes it's really overwhelming. And, it's really because of the expectations I set for myself and for the people around me.

Would it be possible to reduce the disappointments by lowering expectations? Of course, but what are the consequences?

One, you'll never achieve your full potential. Having lower expectations is like putting a limit on your potential and your capability. You'd never feel the need to push yourself and grab something that's just beyond your reach. And when you never feel this need to go further than you can, you'd never really amount to anything in life.

Two, having a constant exposure to disappointment makes you sort of "disappointment-hardy". You're not going to crumble the next time you experience a huge disappointment. It's much easier to get up again and try harder if you're used to disappointments, than when you first experience them.

Three, without expectations, how would you derive joy? There would be no targets or goals to achieve, and there wouldn't be anything to live for. It's just like, going through each single day like the day before, letting life pass you by.

Well, I'd really contemplated lowering my expectations sometimes. But, I've never been able to do so. Feeling disappointed or feeling on top of the world when you achieve your expectations or not, is THE feeling. The euphoric rush is to die for.