01/22/2026
I spent years being frustrated with people. Friends who flaked. Family who didn't get it. Colleagues who didn't follow through.
Then I realized the common denominator was me. Not because I was the problem—but because I was the one keeping score on a game nobody else knew they were playing.
The expectations were mine. I made them up. Then I got mad when people didn't meet standards they never agreed to.
Dropping expectations isn't giving up on people. It's just stopping the habit of pre-writing how everyone should behave and then resenting reality when it doesn't match.
The happiest people I know still have standards for themselves. They just stopped requiring everyone else to perform a certain way for them to be okay.
That's the shift. Your peace can't depend on things you can't control. And you can't control anyone but yourself.
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