Have you read our previous post on The Philosophy of Hope? If not then I recommend you check that out first because it’s a deep insight into what hope means to me. And as I mentioned previously, in the next article I am going to differentiate between the two very similar yet different terms i.e. hope and expectation.

Before starting our article I want you to take a deep dive in the ocean of your mind and explore what hope and expectation mean to you. What do you think they are? Are they the same thing or is there any difference between them? And if there is any kind of difference than what it is? Take a minute and stop reading, first ask yourself the above question.

Are you done? Then proceed on to read my views on the topic.

When I began writing this debate over hopes and expectations an idea sparked in my mind why not google the meaning of hope and expectation. And here’s what I found.

EXPECTATION: A strong belief that something will happen or be the case.

HOPE: A feeling of expectation and desire for a particular thing to happen.

Uh oh! I think the google mixed up these two, but Janani Sree drew a line between these two words that seem synonyms to each other yet are different.

The line is so thin that we often mistook hope with expectation. Hope and expectations are an entirely different thing. With one being the solution to miseries the other add up on the miseries. Hope as I previously said is to hold the grip on one’s reality and only thinking that whatever might happen will be good for us. On the other hand, the expectation is when you are sure that a certain thing or person will appear as how you want them to be but sometimes, no most of the time opposite occurs and we are ended with broken hearts.

While expecting a certain thing, you knew in your heart that this thing is going to happen for sure this feeling of surety creates a negative influence that leads to great pains because when it doesn't happen you are let down. And even when it does happen, you don't feel too happy because it was always the part of the surety. You knew it’s going to happen anyway then what’s there to be happy about.

Hope is something not assured, you never knew if it’s going to happen or not, so when something does happen you feel the happiness of it. It’s like a sweet blessing in disguise. But when it doesn’t happen you are still cool about it because nevertheless, you weren’t sure about it in the first place.

Didn’t quite understood? No problem I’ve got you. Just keep reading.

Hope for the best, and expect the worst.

Now I suggest you take a moment and consider yourself as the ninth-class student, which you might have been or will be one day; working damn hard to ace your exams. You are working day and night and as hard as you could and you are confident and expect that you will get 90% easily and the result comes out and you saw that you only got 70%. What’s going to happen to you now? (P.S. I am not going in detail of the circumstances because I have faced them myself and it’s too painful to dig those memories out again. BTW it happened to me in intermediate and not matriculation).

On the other hand, you are the same as the ninth class student working as hard as your body could afford. Did your best in exams too and expected nothing. You do hope and pray for yourself but you are not expecting to get 90%. When the result came and you got the same 70% but you are happy because at least you didn’t fail, at least you got an A, and at least some things are going to make you happy.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying to give up on hard work but whatever you do, enjoy it as it is. Live your life to the fullest and do your best in whatever you do. Life is full of uncertainty, maybe the hard work you do today will bore fruit in the distant future. So don’t give up, and always have a positive mindset because happiness comes to you when you are positive from within.

Accept your life as it is and let go of the false attachments and expectations, whether you expect things from certain people or the circumstances, free yourself of this misery and when you do let go then trust me your mind would be a lot more peaceful than before.

After reading this debate the question might have been raised in your mind that is, why do we expect? Why our minds can’t accept the fact that not all the things we want to go our way? We know that expectations hurt then why do we still expect?

Because the problem lies in our minds. When you start expecting things from yourself and people around you, you begin confining yourself in a small room without an exit. We expect people to live up to the expectations we have for them and when they don’t, our soul is filled with anguish for them. We hate them for being them, we don’t accept their uniqueness just because they didn’t fulfill our criteria for them. You see these expectations are just a bunch of negative feelings or I call it the poison our minds pour for our soul to drink and die. To let go of expectations you have to control your emotions, create a positive mindset for everything in your life only then you would be able to lead a life that is filled with countless happiness and most importantly a peaceful life.

We hope we have met your expectation with this article there is more to write about the difference but as this was getting long and we know time is money, so we hope that you get the gist of what we are trying to convey. You can add more in the comment section below. We would love to hear from you.

---Written By: Rameen Fatima Basri

---Edited By: Aheed Uddin Basri