Disappointment - Why it's Good for You

It comes in all shapes and forms. A friend letting you down, not getting that promotion, liking someone more than they like you. Looking at the scales for the umpteenth time, wishing that second line would appear on that test, hoping that person will change.

Disappointment's twin is hope. And, without hope, we wouldn't be the most advanced life source on the planet. Without hope, we wouldn't take risks, we wouldn't believe in the unbelievable and we wouldn't dream that life could change. That life could take on another form and it will be better than the one we currently reside in.

I like all humans have faced all different types of disappointment. When you live a life as a performer, as a creative who chooses to share their wears. You are embracing all manner of risk, disappointment, hope and failure. And when these moments have occurred in my life they have naturally come with sadness and some self-loathing. But more than anything they have come with a great deal of self-reflection. Of trying to quantify why my judgement was so misplaced, of why I did not anticipate the result I ended up with, and why do I feel so disappointed?

I recently hoped for something and it didn't come to me. I felt I deserved it, and in my mind, and to my closest friends and family I laid out my case in its entirety. And they too felt it had merit and that I deserved for it to happen for me.

Whilst I didn't get what I wanted,  I was instantly gifted something else. One less regret. I won't look back on that moment in my life with any regret. If anything I feel that it took courage and a great deal of bravery to ask the universe for something. And I still believe I deserve it. But then when the things you want are dependent on other people collaborating with you, it always becomes complicated.

I have also learnt throughout my life that I can face all kinds of disappointment and overcome it. And when I feel disappointed  I allow myself that afternoon or day or so to let a cloud move in above my head. Because your feelings are yours alone, and no one else can work them out for you. But then once an ample amount of time has passed where I have been self-indulgent enough, then I let it go. Let those thoughts flow out of my mind as swiftly as they entered it. I return to the now, the present and not to what could have been. And remember life is all about experience, and whilst disappointment sucks it does make us grow.