Saturday, March 18, 2017

Disappointment

Disappointment isn't given the credit it deserves.
Disappointment is a terrible crushing, debilitating feeling.
But it takes the backseat to wild emotions like grief, anger, sadness, elation, joy, rage ...

Dude ... disappointment can make your heart as heavy as any death.

It can create a space of void like the blackest of night.  Sometimes I think disappointment is THE worst feeling of all. Because it is kind of in the middle of all the other emotions and does not get spoken about much. It is kind of dismissed like "eh ... yea I am disappointed" 

But to be REALLY disappointed and crushed by someone who has hurt you is beyond all the other feelings. It IS anger, sadness and grief ... but disappointment is a reflection of your efforts as well. 

Did I not do enough? Was I not a good enough friend? What DID I do to deserve that action that was done to me?
You see ... disappointment goes both ways.  The disappointment you feel in the person who disappointed you but also in yourself.  
It is the ultimate double edged sword. Painful going and coming out.
It lingers longer than the other emotions too.  Along with grief, it has stages.  But unlike grief it seems to have no end because there is no closure to disappointment. It always stays there haunting you wondering 
why.
When people hurt us and we cut them out of our lives, we seal the door because we’ve been burned too many times.  Even if a part of us longs to open it and wishes we could have something – anything positive of that person in our life, our disappointment prevents us from doing so because that hurt comes back.  But the tricky thing is you will always long for it. 
Then comes forgiveness and forgiveness is hard ...hard as hell because if you feel disappointed and cannot figure out the real reason someone did what they did ... forgiveness does not come easy. Then it still comes back to ... disappointment. Disappointment in an action, words, inaction, decisions made. 
Anyone who says forgiveness makes your heart feel lighter is lying. Like no one comes out and says it but ...damn lie.  If you CAN come to terms with all the feelings and forgive ... your heart almost becomes heavier because that shit seals the deal. 
Bam! I forgive. But it does not change that the disappointment is still there. Things cannot just be "undone".  If you can forgive,  it can make things more bearable.  But it also makes things more real. 

And even though it hurts. It makes you strong.  It may not be the kind of strength you wanted or expected but there are all kinds of strong. Disappointment strong makes you resilient. Disappointment strong makes you cautious.  Disappointment strong makes you wise.

And that is gonna have to be okay for now.

In short: Set your expectations to zero. Train yourself to accept all outcomes, happily. Do not change those expectations.  Assume you’re wrong about what they’re thinking.  Stay out of their head.  Decide what you want 

based on when you’re old and grey.  Accept the truth and mourn for what you didn’t get.

True story right here. 




2 comments:

  1. This speaks to me on so many levels.

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    1. Thank you for reading. This was a tough one. Hit close to the heart.

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