Expect nothing and you shall have everything
To be perfectly honest I am entirely unsure as to whether or not my mind came up with this phrase, or if my mother, a friend, or a book implanted it into my brain. Regardless it is my motto for this phase of my life.
Hopes, wants, wishes, desires get me nowhere. Nothing comes as I expect it to, as I envisioned it.
It goes along with the phrase "expect the unexpected" (which is also not noded and I probably heard from a movie or a cartoon... ah, how my memory fails me).
If we had control over every aspect of our future, our lives would be terribly predictable, and that just wouldn't be fun.
Expectations are limiting, and one is crushed when reality conflicts with them. Surprise, spontaneity {sp}, mystery, now that's much more exciting to me.
Take things as they come, pursue things, but don't expect anything to result in the way you imagine. Save imagination for short stories, daydreaming, painting, poetry, drawing, etc.