Dealing with Disappointment and Frustration
Part of life is dealing with the many disappointments that occur. Some smaller then others but nevertheless the sting of lost expectation leaves its mark. Sometimes if we find ourselves in a slump, it can be due to consistent disappointments that seem to never give you a break. Dashed hopes can make you question a lot of occurrences in life.
What does the future look like? Will anything ever work out?
Comparing past, present, and your future becomes an interloop in your mind and where your heading in life can feel skewed or foggy leading to anxiety and stress.
Although these setbacks happen, finding techniques to better coup with the many ups and down of our worlds is essential to having a healthier life. The following list has helped me find me resiliency and ability to rebound back to trying again.
- Don't compare yourself to others
- More opportunity's will come
- Be kind to yourself
Don't compare yourself to others
A phrase so simple and overheard that it becomes almost white noise, but its weight carries through regardless.
Never compare yourself to others.
With social media, seeing others with the seemingly perfect life and happy faces is bound to make you reflect on how your doing in comparison. Easy to get lost in the façade of what millions of influencers and filtered photos show us can make you wonder where you went wrong. Going into ones own life, your interpersonal relationships with your siblings, classmates, or friends can incorrectly lead you to believe your in a competition that doesn't actually exist. Everyone's journey and starting line to "success", whatever your definition of the word, are all different from one another.
It might be harder for you for many different reasons to achieve what you want to achieve and seeing someone else have what you may rightfully deserve can make losing out on something harder to bear. Yet acknowledging how your life is different from others - bouncing back and trying again with maybe having learned from a temporarily setback is necessary to keep going. With different upbringings, childhood experiences, financial situations, even economic pressures - there are too many varying factors that comparison amongst ourselves is inaccurate and pointless.
More opportunity's will come
One door closes, another opens.
When going through difficult times it can be hard to imagine a future version of yourself in a different view. For example, I had lost a finance job in 2019 due to college graduation being delayed right before covid hit in 2020. Wondering how I would be able to get a job in such a climate I became overrun with stress and anxiousness my final year of college. After repeated applications over many months I was able to finally secure a job as a software engineer. When I look back now, losing that finance job was a blessing in disguise since going into tech fit my career aspirations better. Seeing how life worked out over a span of 3 years helped me think if you keep trying another opportunity will arise. Your ability to learn and adapt to changes is the faith you need to keep when difficult situations arise - the knowing you can handle it.
Be kind to yourself
Sometimes we fail simply because we didn't give it our best shot. You know you could have done better but didn't give it your all and it can be crushing recognizing your own shortcomings - all of which simply means you are human.
Nobody is perfect.
There will be days when giving it the most you can isn't the usual high bar you set for yourself. Maybe you had other work needed to be done, or simply you are just tired. The world is critical and it is easy for others to pass their judgement on to you - some with good intentions while others aren't. There is no further need for you to be so incredibly hard on yourself when the world is doing that for your already. Being forgiving and kinder to your own person, helps you recognize your own humanity and intent. That will give you the encouragement needed to continue moving forward.
Conclusions
Everything that happens, happens for a reason.
Incurring disappointment in life is bound to happen. It is frustrating and can even be debilitating when your hopes don't work out as expected. Yet tomorrow is a new day. And no matter what it is important to keep trying and never give in to life's many punches.
And not giving in - isn't that what life is all about?
Perseverance is what leads to success in more ways then one. Life is all about one failure after another which can lead to having learned a small snippet needed to succeed in your endeavors. That small snippet is everything.
Hope you all had an amazing week!
