Opinion: Existing with Disappointment

Finding Ways to Cope

Graphic by Ella Pederson

Disappointment is like a ghost knocking at someone’s door. It haunts them, and it can not seem to go away. Disappointment is the sadness or displeasure caused by the nonfulfillment of one’s hopes or expectations. Many people struggle with feeling like a disappointment, whether in sports, at home, at school or in relationships. It seems to loom over people’s heads: it may be difficult to process how to support one’s self in stressful situations. When someone is told what to do and can not put it into action that is where the problem usually starts.
How do people deal with disappointment?
Plenty of people set themselves up for disappointment when the goals they have for themselves are unrealistic. This can happen when people set the bar too high for themselves and cannot meet the expectation every time. These people need to ask themselves:
* Do I have unrealistic expectations for myself?
* Is this situation as bad as I think?
* Am I growing my negativity or dwelling on it?
Asking these questions might help someone re-evaluate, understand and overcome. When an individual dwells on negativity, disappointment can start occurring rapidly. People may often believe that instead of a temporary situation, it is a permanent one. When they ask themselves those questions, they can start growing from a mistake and move on from it. This will also help someone have a positive outlook and give them more happiness.
Whenever an individual makes a mistake, they should tell themselves this if they want to overcome it: “It was just this one time. I will get it the next time I have an opportunity.” When people make this their mindset, it will be easier to grow and learn from your mistakes.
Why is this important?
Knowing how to deal with disappointment is crucial to mental health. Some people could experience countless negative emotions and view obstacles as overwhelming. This might eventually lead to low-stress tolerance and can progress into severe mental issues, such as depression, anxiety, etc.
Dealing with disappointment is also important because when people start to be negative constantly, it can evolve into toxic behavior, which leads to pushing other people away and making the feeling of disappointment even worse than it already was.
When someone reflects on themself and what they want, that person could be happy with their current circumstances. Some people need reflection on their emotions and make mentally conscious decisions.
The goal of trying to manage disappointment is to make a stressful situation easier to deal with without making the incident worse. If an individual needs to overcome disappointment, self-evaluating can be a great way to deal with any situation.
Sources for more information:
https://emeraldpsychiatry.com/advice-for-dealing-with-disappointment/
https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/how-to/how-to-deal-with-disappointment-and-let-things-go/