Yesterday was our 5th Anniversary. I believed it to be a very special day as we had completed half a decade together, with many more to come. It was the first of the many milestones. Like every other married couples, we have had our share of love, happiness, misunderstandings, fights, but only to make our bond stronger. I had really been looking forward to this day.

I am the kind of person who loves reading romantic novels, cry after watching an emotional movie and love fairy-tales. I knew my husband was just the opposite of me (through experience of-course), but one cannot stop from dreaming, right?? I had this expectation that since, it was the first milestone of our lives; he would have planned something special for me, like a candle-light dinner or something. I had even purchased a sexy backless dress for the occasion.

Finally the day arrived. It started just like I would have expected it to, with a big bouquet of bright red roses lying on my bed side table, just as I opened my eyes. I turned towards where my husband was lying, and found him wide awake and staring at me. He kissed me and we wished each other. I thanked him for the beautiful roses.

Then we got ready for work. When I went down, there was a chocolate cake waiting to greet us and our family members were standing there with open arms. We rushed forward to meet them and take their blessings, cut the cake and accepted the gifts they had got us. Finally we left for office.

On the way, none of us talked about what we would be doing in the evening, and I took it as a cue that he had certainly planned something. With great difficulty I survived through the day at office, as the butterflies in my stomach were killing me. I hated suspense. It was just too much for me to handle. Whenever I read any suspense novel, I would, most of the times, read the end, just to know that my favourite character isn’t dead.

Soon office hours came to an end and I headed home. My husband usually comes a little late, so I took the time to relax. I was expecting that he would call and ask me to be ready, but he didn’t. So I got ready, just in-case he wanted to surprise me and gives me no time to change. I wanted to look my best.

Slowly time passed and soon it was 10 p.m. I was getting impatient and finally called him to ask when he would be coming back home. But what he replied, just broke my hopes into pieces. “I will get very late at work today so please don’t wait for me. I will call for something for dinner. You have yours”- he said. I could hardly speak as emotions took over me, and I just disconnected the call. I changed and directly went to bed, without having dinner.

Next day I was too disgusted with him even to talk and gave him the cold treatment. He kept asking me what’s wrong, but I just didn’t want to talk about it.

What do you think was the main reason for my sadness? Was it that he didn’t take me for dinner or that he didn’t even come early to spend few precious moments with me on our special day? No, it’s none of these. The main reason was expectations. We all have high expectations from others, from ourselves and expectations always hurt.

In the morning I was happy, because I hadn’t expected the bouquet and the yummy cake. It was unexpected and so it made me feel like I was on top of the world. But for the evening, I had expected a lot from him, knowing that his work nature was uncertain and it required long hours. I was in my own dream world and not wanting to believe the realities of life.

So, what is the most important thing required to be happy? It is not having any expectations from anyone. We need to take life as it comes, and live for today. Do something for someone, and you will observe how this makes you happy. The little things of life makes a person really happy and we need to start admiring them.

Another important thing is pouring our heart out. If something is bothering us and someone approaches us that time and asks if we are fine, say “No, I am not fine”. Sharing our feelings with someone helps us to feel lighter. The person may not be able to provide any solution for it, but just getting it out of our heart, makes us feel better.

If we are feeling sad, we should cry it out. Some believe that crying will show that they are weak, but that’s not true. Instead, being able to cry our heart out, actually displays our strength. We will always feel better once we cry it out and be able to reason things better.

So, live for the moment, be satisfied with yourself and be happy always.