Why Letting Go of Expectations Brings More Happiness

(dramatic music) Headspace Studio. Hi friends, it's Rosie here. Welcome to Radio Headspace and to Wednesday. So when I was younger, I had this very clear idea of what I wanted my life to look like by a certain age. In my twenties, I had this journal called Life Scripting. The idea was just as the title says, script your life as you want it to be. So I wrote that by the time I was 30, I'd be married, have some kids, and my career would feel a certain way and I'd have it all figured out. But as many of us know, what's that quote about the best laid plans? As you guessed it, yes, life happens. No one prepares you for the reality that some things just don't happen on the timeline you expect. No one tells you. What if like you enter early menopause when you thought you'd still have time to start a family? No one talks about the grief of a fertility journey that doesn't result in the outcome you dreamed of. And for a while I saw that as a failure. I kept asking myself, where did I go wrong? I obsessed over every decision, every moment that could have led me to a different outcome. I remember sitting on my bathroom floor after yet another doctor's appointment, holding onto hope that was slipping through my fingers. I wasn't just mourning the possibility of motherhood, I was mourning the version of myself who had always assumed it would happen, the identity I'd built around one day, and when that future was no longer certain, I felt lost, like I was floating without an anchor, without a plan, without a clear next step. But now I see it as freedom. Life isn't about sticking to a script. It's about being open to what unfolds, because sometimes the things that we didn't plan end up being the most meaningful. I used to get so caught up in timelines. If I wasn't at a certain place by a certain age, I felt like I was behind. I measured my worth by check boxes, career, relationships, family, milestones. But the more I let go of that, the more I realized there is no behind. There's just my path unfolding in its own way at its own pace. And once I stopped obsessing over what should have happened, I started paying attention to what was happening, the opportunities I never saw coming, the friendships and deep connections I was building, the sense of purpose I found in teaching and guiding others. I had spent so much time grieving a version of my life that didn't exist that I wasn't seeing the beautiful, unpredictable life that did exist. And honestly, that life, that real one, ended up being richer, deeper, and more fulfilling than the script I'd clung onto. So if you're feeling like life isn't going according to plan, take a moment to pause, ask yourself what's actually...