My mom once told me worrying was like rocking in a rocking chair. It keeps you busy but you never get anywhere. I find the same for expectations. I expect things from people, my environment, or even myself. It is not so much expectations as it is attachment to those expectations. Attachment to the execution of those expectations in an already-determined way. When I'm really looking forward to something, I daydream about it. I think about it going in a certain way. When it doesn't end up happening in that way or at all I allow myself to wallow in my chosen disappointment. I detach myself from the person that breaks that expectation even when it is out of their control. Even if it's a person I love very much. I punish them and I punish myself by doing so.
Moving on from expectation with compassion, understanding, and forgiveness is the key to my jail cell. So the next time something unexpected happens in my world I'm going to think back on my own words and heed their call. No one will expect that.