Welcome to Episode 20 Reflecting on: Managing Expectations Pt. 2 where Dr Marcus and Charlie unpack what happens when big moments don’t live up to the hype.

You counted down the days. You pictured how it would feel. Then… it happened and it didn’t quite hit the way you imagined.

In this honest and research-backed episode of The Mood Booster, we explore how and why our expectations of emotional highs often fall flat, and how to navigate that with grace and realism.

🎙️ We cover:

• The Anticipation Effect and dopamine-fuelled pre-experiencing

• Why affective forecasting often gets it wrong

• How hedonic adaptation brings us back to baseline

• The impact of social media in setting unrealistic emotional benchmarks

• Real tools to name your unspoken expectations, plan for the emotional “come-down,” and reframe what didn’t go as imagined

Whether you’re recovering from a birthday that felt a bit off or preparing for an upcoming milestone, this episode is your emotional toolkit.

✅ Shift from pressure to presence.

Let go of perfect.

Find the spark of meaning.

🎧 Hit play, and learn how to make daily life feel a little more manageable with less pressure and more clarity.

👇 Full video episode below, and don’t forget to subscribe!

📚 References cited in this episode:

• Wilson, T.D., & Gilbert, D.T. (2003). Affective forecasting: Knowing what to want. Psychological Science, 14(3), 131–134. • Gilbert, D.T., & Wilson, T.D. (2005). Why the brain is not built to make us happy and what we can do about it. In E. C. Chang (Ed.), Self-criticism and self-enhancement: Theory, research, and clinical implications.

• Van Boven, L., & Ashworth, L. (2007). Looking forward, looking back: Anticipation is more evocative than retrospection. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 136(2), 289–300. • Kumar, A., Killingsworth, M.A., & Gilovich, T. (2014). Waiting for Merlot: Anticipatory consumption of experiential and material purchases. Psychological Science, 25(10), 1924–1931.

• Chou, H.-T. G., & Edge, N. (2012). “They are happier and having better lives than I am”: The impact of using Facebook on perceptions of others’ lives. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 15(2), 117–121.