The Bar: Setting Expectations with Hepatitis C

No, not the bar where people drink alcohol or play pool or some other bar activity... What I am talking about is the idea of a low or high bar in regard to expectations. Maybe you never thought about the notion of setting a bar high or low, and that’s fine, it is not a requirement that any one of us have, but we do generally set standards of all sorts of things based on expectations.

My diagnosis experience

These expectations can be what we expect from others, and that is something we all do to some extent. The expectations we have of ourselves can be quite uniquely different in scope, depending on so many things that are too numerous to mention. In my expectations column as it pertains to hep C, I set the bar quite low, initially, on diagnosis. My expectations were so low it drove me towards the darkest realm of imminent demise/death. Yes, it is true that despite my general belief in hope, I felt there was none and it sent me into a deep depression I had never experienced. I later learned that it was really not so unusual or unique to me. Despite that knowing did not alleviate my own resignation, in time, it was at the very foundation of how others in community were important in lifting my own expectations.

Finding support

I have written a lot about the support that was so readily and freely given by others and the wonderful thing it was and still is. As time went along, the bar was raised. Miraculous? I don’t think so, but if others want to see it that way, I can’t argue against it. Other people I never knew turned up and shared their knowledge and gave of themselves in ways I had never seen or experienced, and to me it was lifesaving and turned that low expectation int great expectations.

Helping others

Raising the bar as it did is what led me to believe that I too could help others, and the bar got even higher. This time it was about expectations about what I could do. The community of people with lived experience had prepared me for the next part of the journey as an advocate for others, and it all started with some people I had never met who helped me out of the goodness of their heart, and the same expectations of themselves in helping others.

I use myself as an example only to illustrate one path, and I never presume that anyone should follow it. If my time here helps to encourage or empower another person who walks this journey, it is worth the effort, bar aside.