Ten days. Ten days till I am galavanting around in a mysterious country that is not my own. Ten days till I leave the comfort of the familiar. My name is Daria, and in about ten days, I will be leaving my home in Oregon to study abroad in Spain. To say that I am excited is an understatement, but is that excitement because I have a ton of expectations about this trip or because I have none? Which do you think is better? In the case of the new unknown experience, I would challenge you to leave those expectations in the suitcase you couldn't bring with you. Roll them up and put them nicely away because the moment you don't have those expectations is the exact moment that God is going to show you something you never thought you would experience. Now it's easier writing this then it is to practice it. I am the queen of high expectations, and because of this, it has damaged not only experiences but also relationships. Thoughts like, "If my boyfriend doesn't propose just like this..." or "I am so excited to travel because I am going to do this...this... and THIS!" plague my mind and I begin to construct this fantasy in my mind that no real person or place could ever fulfill. And then I am disappointed. The dream guy lets me down, the trip is a bust, and the things that I had planned so perfectly ended up not being so perfect. But what if the way they happened was perfect. What if those experiences were exactly what you needed. What if those high expectations hid the beauty of the place you were experiencing.
As I prepare to embark on this journey abroad it is so easy to create fantasies of what the trip is going to be like. But I challenge myself, and I challenge you on whatever season of life that you may be starting, to let go and let God.
