On expectations and beating them into sub... I mean, managing them

Apr 28, 2016
2 min read

I told myself I wouldn’t. I told Nick. I even wrote it down. I said to myself ‘I won’t expect too much of myself in my first month’. But it wasn’t enough to stop me feeling immediately (like, I haven’t even been here for 10 days) that I needed some significant achievements under my belt. A job, a lead on a job, an income, a decision to study, a decision on what to study, a volunteer position, or near-fluency in Finnish.

With freedom can come unknowns, anxieties, and a desire for something to control. And so I’ve been sitting with my very boring and administration-filled-to-do list for a couple of days. Today, with a little help from Nick, I said ‘enough Penny! For goodness sakes you’re in a new, cool city and there’s so much to discover!’

So I focused on a combination of taking myself on an outing and re-defining ‘achievement’.

Definitions of achievement:

I already have the phone number of a local Finnish person in my phone, and I messaged her and she responded.* Goal!
I have accidentally purchased a coffee table that will be an excellent replacement for the two moving boxes covered with a blanket. Win!
I have used my Finnish skills to bat away 3 Greenpeace clipboard people. Score!
I have taken to drinking piimä! Is that an achievement? Actually yes, I think so!
I have not yet walked into the path of a cyclist … or a car! To life!
I have sorted rubbish into 6 of the available 7 bin categories! You go girrrrl!