Oh man, oh man. Welcome to Las Vegas, Nevada – The Land of Disappointed Hopes and Dreams.
You’re a rare find if you come to Vegas expecting your weekend to end in disappointment; Las Vegas is the city that never sleeps, the place where anything can happen, the weekend when you can become anyone you want to be. Vegas is ALWAYS at its best, so when you stop by you expect yourself to be at your best too.
But what happens when you aren’t? What happens when you get there and all your wildest dreams don’t come true?
I tagged along for a friend of a friend’s birthday this weekend and witnessed (for the second time… Kath your 21st birthday weekend was awesome but there is no denying we were grumpy) how easily high expectations can take a must needed vacation and turn it into a weekend you might have rather spent at home.
On the way there our car broke down, leaving us stranded on the side of the freeway for almost 4 hours with only 20 miles left to go. Needless to say, roasting in 109 degree heat took a bit of a toll and by the time we’d showered and headed out to the strip most of us were tired and seriously bummed that we’d missed out on so much time.
I had no expectations going into the weekend (I’d already learned my lesson that nothing goes according to plan in Vegas), so I ended up having a great night offering to take photos of strangers and striking up conversations with anyone who seemed interesting on the strip. But a few of the other girls had a harder time recovering from our delay, opting to head in early, promising themselves that conditions would be better tomorrow – that the fun could wait.
Our next day was quiet, the group agreeing to save our strength for the birthday dinner and adventure that night. But we should have known that would be a lot of pressure to put on one evening; especially since it is difficult for a group of people to suddenly become exciting and adventurous after spending the day waiting around. So when we got to dinner and the fun didn’t START it was disappointing, adding an edge to an already worried group. What if the night wasn’t perfect? What if we’d come so far for nothing?
As the night continued it felt like we were waiting for the right time to start having fun. Maybe we’d start laughing once we had one more drink, once we found a better club, once we got our shoes off.
But we should have known happiness doesn’t depend on external things like that. We make our own fun, and that night we incorrectly expected it to come to us. It is too bad really, because the next day when we had nothing left to lose, nothing left to expect, we actually had a great time exploring the strip and hanging out with each other. We can only imagine how much better the weekend would have been if we’d started it that way.
So take my advice, if you’re going on a trip (specifically Vegas) leave your expectations at home. Have fun every minute, don’t wait around for conditions to be perfect – they never will be. You’re responsible for your own happiness and there is nothing stopping you from reaching out and taking it.