Episode 88: When Disappointment Strikes (Part 1)
XIN CHAO “sin chow” to my friends in Vietnam- HELLO to everyone else around the world.
We have something in common, regardless of where we live or what age we are. We meet with disappointment all the time…sometimes it will be long stretches of time or they are minor disappointments that don’t affect us that much and it sometimes it seems like we are under daily attack with disappointments hit with machine gun rapid fire or it feels so intense that we feel like we can’t breathe.
I recently experienced a disappointment that broke my heart in two and it has had me pondering a lot about how disappointment affects my life and how I have been handling it when it comes my way and ways I can handle it with more resilience and wisdom.
Lightning is a very quick electrical discharge that occurs between a cloud and the ground, between two clouds, or within a cloud. It can be seen as a bright flash and is followed by the sound of thunder.
To me, disappointment is like that lightning; it strikes in a flash, sometimes causing destruction like splitting a tree or starting a fire and it comes with strong emotions that shake us like thunder.
Living in Indiana, we have literally had thunder shake our house.
Have you ever felt like disappointment has split your heart in two or shaken you to the very foundation?
Disappointment is a feeling of sadness when something falls short of your expectation. Every day, people deal with disappointment. Depending on how big the disappointment is and how you deal with it, this feeling may disappear after a short while, or hang over your life for a long period of time. If not dealt with properly, disappointments can lead to depression, and eventually apathy.
In short, Disappointment can either destroy us or create something new within us.
When disappointment strikes in your life which of the two is taking root in you? Are you letting it consume you or quash your dreams OR is it helping you see your desires and dreams clearer and giving you an opportunity for unexpected growth?
Today I am going to talk about the 3 signs you are letting disappointment destroy you and next week I will talk about how we can process disappointment in healthy ways so that healing, learning and courageous fortitude can happen.
“Disappointment is unmet expectations. The more significant the expectations, the more significant the disappointment.” -Brene Brown
The feelings of sadness, despair, regret, loss, anger and frustration that accompany disappointment are very real but we do not want those emotions to become our only reality. These emotions can potential keep us stuck and living small. So before I can talk about how to thrive through and from disappointment, we need to check in with ourselves…
Be really honest with yourself and notice if any of the following three behaviors have become your normal way to deal with disappointment.
You numb yourself with other activities.
You pretend you don’t care.
You give up.
