So if you haven’t watched a single episode of AoS, here’s the important bit: Inhumans are coming. (Here’s a video explanation.)

There’s this girl, Raina, who used to look like this…

Image Credit: Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

…before she was exposed to something that completely changed her DNA. Basically, she kind of has superpowers now because of blue Kree aliens.

Have you ever wanted something so badly that you convince yourself you’ll take whatever comes your way — only to get disappointed by what you actually get?

Like maybe all you ever wanted was to go through the Terrigen Mist and become an angel, just like your grandmother said you would. Instead you come out looking like a porcupine (Sorry Raina):

Image Credit: Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Or maybe all you wanted was to go on Exchange (not going to lie, this is me right now) and you actually get accepted somewhere in the European region like you wanted — except all the signs are pointing towards how if you go, you might not be able to come back and graduate on time with your peers. Which is bad because you (or well, I) actually need to find a full time job after four years at University.

Perhaps all you’ve wanted lately was to try the rainbow cake at this café; you’ve heard so much about it from your friends that you’ve built up an unrealistically high expectation for it. You’re trying so hard not to be let down by what you expected, but it’s hard when the cake literally tastes like cardboard.

Whatever it is — whether it’s a alien Kree transformation gone wrong, not getting to go to some place you’ve been dying to go to (why won’t they let me go to London), or having the most horrible cake of your life even though it should honestly taste like rainbows — it all comes down to the same grim conclusion:

Expectations are a set up for huge disappointments.

The more you expect something to happen, the harder you fall. It’s like going on a first date and expecting to marry the guy. (Don’t lie, boys and girls, I know your fantasy has stretched that far before at least once in your life.) Or at least, you go on this date hoping that this newfound bond you have will go somewhere, when in actuality, it ends up not going anywhere at all.

More expectations equals more heartache. And I don’t know about you but sometimes, I wish I could turn my feelings off. If I expected nothing, I would feel nothing. No pain, no heartache, no disappointment.

Image Credit: (500) Days of Summer

Except there’s really no way to avoid having expectations. Maybe it’s the comeback of your favourite band gone wrong, or maybe you never heard back from that girl you’ve had a crush on for ages, but I’m not going to sugarcoat it: every single time you wait for something, or every time you get your hopes up, you have to make room for disappointment.

Because you’re taking a risk, you’re putting all your cards down, and you’re hoping that it’ll turn out the way you want it to this time. But I can tell you it’s not going to be smooth-sailing. It might not turn out the way you want it to. It might not even be close to what you expected. You might want nothing short of perfection, and you might think that you’re not hindered from getting everything just right, but things don’t always have to go where you expect them to.

And that’s where you find it. There, in the cracks between your perceived perfection, is where you find something even better, something you never even expected to find. In between your disappointments and your heartaches lies a great unknown, there for you to fill with your experiences.

Like Mick Jagger sings, “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find… you get what you need.” Sometimes disappointment shows you a different path, and you just have to be discerning enough to see it, and brave enough to travel down that road. Besides, isn’t life supposed to be this great adventure?

To Fridays is a weekly column that hopes to be able to give you all the encouragement and love in the world. This week’s story is the 21st. #tofridaysvp

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