Joy in the Moment

BY JOY PAPE

This is a time of celebration—including the Village View’s First Anniversary! In honor of this event, I reviewed the past ‘Joy in the Moment’ articles and picked out the one I feel is most appropriate as a gift to you for this season. The winner is:

Expect Nothing! You won’t be let down.

Originally Published June 2023

Have you ever looked forward to an occasion, be it time with someone, a trip, a gift, a holiday…you name it? Then, when it didn’t work out as expected, or better said, as you expected, then you felt let down?
Some examples:
Time with someone. Perhaps there was someone you wanted to spend some time with. You wanted it to be quality time, a time to connect. Your experience doing so has not always been that, but you hoped for it anyway and even, planned for a good time together. You met up, and it didn’t go as you hoped. You felt let down. Instead of accepting how it was, you felt angry at yourself or that person.
A trip. You planned for a trip to a beautiful sunny place. You put your time and energy into planning for it. You got excited about it and…it didn’t turn out as you expected. Perhaps it rained or stormed. You felt let down, bummed out and disappointed rather than accepting and making the best of it.
A present. It was your birthday or celebration of some sort. You were hoping for a particular gift, but you didn’t get what you were hoping for, what you expected, you were let down. You may have felt resentment towards whoever it was that didn’t give you that ‘right’ gift. Rather than graciously accept it, you couldn’t find any way to make the best of it.
A holiday. There was a holiday you have made big plans for. And it just didn’t turn out to be as great as you expected it would be. Perhaps, not everyone came, not everyone came at the expected time or with the expected or wanted people and not everyone got along. You felt your holiday was ruined. You were let down, bummed out and in a bad mood rather than accepting it the way it was and finding some good in the time you had together, even if the lesson was not to have grand expectations.
Some say the wisest people have no expectations, have learned to accept things as they are and make the best of what is. This is another example of how you too can have some joy in the moment.

Joy Pape, FNP-C, CDCES, CFCN is a board-certified family nurse practitioner, Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialist and Specialist in Weight Management & Obesity at Weill Cornell’s Comprehensive Weight Control Center and has a private practice in the West Village.