Don't Let Me Down

The other day someone was supposed to help me build a bookcase. If you're familar with the situation, you'd know that I bought the wood over a year ago, and it's been sitting on my veranda ever since, much to my annoyance. Originally someone else was supposed to help me build it. Never happened. So, deciding to take matters into my own hands, I casually asked this person for some power tools that I could borrow and build the damn thing myself. Instead, he offered to help. After playing phone tag for a week, he finally said he could do it on Thursday which happened to be my day off. I never heard from him. The point to this rambling story is this. People are constantly letting me down. Maybe I care too much. Maybe I expect too much from others. Is the solution to simply not have expectations at all because that way you can't be disappointed? Should I expect that the people in my life will inevitably let me down so that I can be prepared when it happens? The saying is, "No man is an island," but maybe if I were and completely self-sufficient, I wouldn't need to rely on other people so therefore wouldn't be disappointed. It's definitely something to consider.