Expectations . . . doom you to desire a life that might be, by blinding you to the life that you have.

That is, by definition, what it means to expect. It is from the Latin spectare If "spectare" is to see, then to "ex-spectare" is to stop seeing. We stop seeing because we're forever expecting — forever watching the pot that never boils. We end up hot, frustrated, and stewing alone in the kitchen of expectations while everyone else is partying at the feast.

Dwight Currie, How We Behave At the Feast