"Even if my expectations are unreasonable I would prefer to keep them"
To hope well is to be realistic about probabilities, not to succumb to wishful thinking or be cowed by fear; it is to hold possibilities open when you should. The point of clinging to possibility is not to feel good – hope may be more painful than despair – but to keep the flicker of potential agency alive.
from What’s the Use of Hope? by Kieran
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4. Compare effectively (expectations versus fundamentals).