The Let Down...

Feeling let down? There are many reasons why.

1.    You finished a big project at work and you’re like what next?

2.    You returned from a planned (and well-deserved vacation) and you’re like, back to the grind?

3. Your friend or a family member has failed to be supportive when you most needed it

After my recent girls’ weekend, I felt “let down.” The fun was over, and it was back to reality. Ugh! With this you can feel tired, sad/depressed even unmotivated. I felt all three and even took a covid test just to be sure (negative, thank G-d!).

It is easy to dismiss “let down” but you shouldn’t. With reasons 1 and @ you may feel it for a few days and then it goes away (my case). With reason 3, feelings of disappointment may linger and fester. Then the next time your friend or family reaches out, you could be testy and/or downright mean.

“Disappointment, like many other emotions, has evolutionary roots. In other words, we need these complex emotions to survive and grow.” — Maggie Wooll, Better Up

There are several ways to handle disappointment:

1.    Grow through it

2.     Practice self-acceptance

3.    Find perspective

4.    It can make your stronger

And most important…

5.    Let it out (don’t hold it in and let it fester)

— Maggie Wooll, Better Up

Now if we look at FAILURE, the kin of disappointment, we can use the same methods of handing it. “I have not failed 10,000 times—I've successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work.”— Thomas Edison (in reference to inventing the light bulb) I like this quote because it stresses the notion of “failures” being learning opportunities.

However, we don’t feel failure at the end of big work project unless our boss rejects it and says it needs to be redone. We don’t feel failure at the end of vacation unless someone got sick or hurt. And we don’t feel failure with our friends or family unless we are the one doing the disappointing.

If is important to remember that with negative feelings/thoughts to look for the learning opportunity and to change them to positive. At a webinar I attended, we were asked to state how we felt other people perceived us. I wrote that others will question my expertise. I have been studying time management and productivity for over 30 years and stress management for over 20 years. So I printed out what I wrote and then wrote over it in red marker, “I AM NOT A FRAUD.” And to turn this into a learning moment, I should have written “I AM AN EXPERT.”

In front of boot store, Nashville, TN