Having a fantasy where you are a demi-god and all things are within your capability makes one feel incredibly wonderful and powerful. That situation is only available as repeatable, sustainable if a person feels excessive responsibility from deep seeded and inaccurately perceived expectation.
High expectations are the basis for depression since they are what are not being met to create such an emotion. Having them isn’t bad but treating them as normal is silly and not critiquing them but simply feeling awful when they aren’t met means they are being used foolishly and to one’s own damage instead of pushing one forward. If they are uncommunicated expectations, they will always fail you. High expectations, great taste, lofty goals are all great things to keep one moving up but if they fail you it is not an actual failure but a time to re-examine, communicate to yourself or others, and learn. Letting them beat you into a depression is like having training wheels give you a weedgie so bad you can’t poop right anymore; think about that.
Creating unobtainable rewards is a fantastic way to fuck your drive. This happens often with schizophrenics while people less afflicted can have weaker symptoms that still cause damage. When day dreaming, don’t get lost in a dream or gung ho until you’ve thought a plan of action through. Being disappointed is an error in understanding.
Qualifying guilt as unreasonable is the best step around silly and superfluous depression and disappointment. When one’s ego is too full and they’ve boasted themselves a whale only to jump ship and find a big fish all a normal tale, they need to notice that their guilt is just a reality check. Seeing a better explanation than their previous created expectation is a lesson, not a smack in the face. The feeling of embarrassment is slight at best fit where feeling bad about it for any extended period of time means that one is still wishing and wanting the bullshit they sold themselves in an earlier age of ignorance.
Jumping to conclusions is like running in traffic; it can be exciting and fun when it doesn’t ruin you but it’s going to destroy you and when it doesn’t happen, it is a friggin fluke. The emotionality of being guilt-prone is tempered with jumping to conclusions the same way day dreaming takes you from sleeping in AP art history to flying on a space flamingo. And one reinforces the other, both are ridiculous. While day dreaming is not bad, the same as having a crazy adventure isn’t bad, allowing the rules and excitement from that to become the normal expectation will screw the rest of a day which was intending on being totally fucking wonderful. This is not the day’s fault but the person for going to a salad bar looking for chocolate cake. There’s not better, there’s different until one defines their expectations. And we must always define ours or be a highly reactionary beast if not a mindless beast of herd order and blind acceptance.
Taking step by step planning seriously to understand reality is what works one out of these sorts of fanciful and unrealistic habits and downfalls. If you have a big dream or expectation, plan it out. If you do not have a plan then let go of the expectation. Winging it is fun and stupid.
Realism and ditching perfectionism, ditching depression growing something of an accurate understanding on your perspective of the world. Nothing great happens instantly and if it does, one goes wanting more since they can obviously do more work for such. Only something where one has put their full effort and completely become engaged with they find happiness. There is no such thing as perfection and there are 7.5 billion people so there will always be somebody better. Be good for yourself and let go of competitive notions of notoriety and importance. There must be bad to be good to be great to be amazing and it usually goes in that order and often falls back down a few steps in the process. That is normal progression, don’t bullshit yourself.
Keeping standards and making a plan is good! Putting enthusiasm and emotions into plan’s order is a must. Without one’s emotions and rush planned for, one will not keep moving. Find and practice rituals to keep your heart and will gunning forward or else one’s motor will run dry. Having an escape does not count but having a goal does