Sometimes, well a lot of the time, things do not work out as we would like. Life is as full of disappointment as our heads are full of expectations. How a body weathers disappointment has a lot to do with determining a person’s quality of life. Quality of life has more to do with what is going on between our ears than it does what is happening in the world around us.
We live, we rise, we eat, we move, we breathe, what else is going on? Do we have a purpose? Are we seeking to better ourselves or our circumstances?
It is easy to get caught up in the day to day grind. It wears on body and soul. The world is designed to test us on a daily basis. If we aren’t being tested in some way then something somewhere is off kilter. We are tested physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. If a complex system isn’t stress tested it is a weak, dangerous system just waiting to catastrophically fail.
Stress is the driver and the bane of life. We often say stress like it’s a bad thing. Somewhere along the road of life we decided that stress was not good for us; however without some form of stress we would all be indolent layabouts. A life of ease is a dream we chase like that carrot on the stick. We were really never meant to get there.
Knowing and acknowledging this lets us put stress and disappointment in the right place in our lives. Disappointment actually indicates we were doing something, working towards an outcome we desired. Not everything is destined for success. Not every thing we try is guaranteed. Meeting disappointment with the understanding that somewhere along the way the meeting was destined to happen gives us the proper perspective to accept disappointment and learn something from it. Disappointment does not signify the end of something, it merely signifies the current efforts aren’t going to get you where you need to be.
Gaining traction after disappointment can be a challenge in itself. So much of it is mental. Going back to the drawing block and redefining what success might look like is a good place to get grounded before takeoff. Not taking disappointment to heart is difficult when something is very important, but we mustn’t let our disappointment redefine us. Words have power and the word disappointment can drag a person down by itself. Just say I am disappointed and emotions respond. Acknowledge the disappointment and add…but we are not done yet! A positive affirmation has power too.
To truly gain traction one must move. Look at where you are and what it might take to shuffle one baby step forward, then do it! You don’t have to solve for world peace before you get some traction. Traction with forward momentum can be something more easily accessible than it might at first appear. Find a small thing to do that will benefit you or the project and do it. Leave your expectations behind and begin a slow crawl forward. Before you know it you will have…traction and it will be Game On!!!
Theoriginalneanderthal 