04 Proven Approaches to Manage Disappointment [Expert Advice]
#Content
What is disappointment?
Top 04 Approaches to Manage Disappointment:
- Navigate the root cause of your disappointment
2. Face the emotion whole-heartedly
3. Find Meaning in your current situation
4. Reroute your journey with great energy
Pro-Tip
Final thoughts:
Life is a series of events. At one moment we are happy, overjoyed, and excited. While the next moment brings sheer disappointment that overwhelms us and consumes all the positive energy.
The falling short of our expectations disappoint us. Not getting the desired outcomes trigger anger, sadness, and sometimes anxiety.
The studies show that when you are disappointed or experiencing negative emotions, you are at a greater risk of getting emotional as well as physical difficulties.
So, it is necessary to manage disappointment to have a healthy and peaceful life.
In this article, we will cover the proven 04 approaches to managing disappointments and becoming an emotionally stable person.
What is disappointment?
Disappointment in a nutshell is falling short of the expectations that we have.
It is the gap between reality and the anticipation we have in our minds. It is a complex emotion that is triggered when we don’t get what we desired or the other person did something contrary to our expectations.
Disappointment can cause anxiety, sadness, anger, and frustration. It can be minor or major, but one thing is for sure: disappointment hurts.
Being part and participle of life, it is necessary for all of us to deal with disappointments and don’t let them take place in our lives.
Top 04 Approaches to Manage Disappointment:
Although dealing with disappointment can be overwhelming and painful. However, with the following strategies, you can deal effectively with disappointment.
1. Navigate the root cause of your disappointment:
The first and most important step is to identify the root cause of your disappointment. Sit down for a moment, keep your mind peaceful, and retrospect about the events that led to this outcome.
Once you navigate the root cause, it becomes easy to overcome that situation. In most cases, the root cause lies in the extended and overly ambitious expectation we attach with others.
For example, an overweight guy joins a gym and sets unrealistic goals for him. Once time passes and he does not get the results he anticipated, he becomes disappointed and disheartened that he could not achieve this goal. So, it is really important for us to lower our expectations to realistic and achievable goals.
2. Face the emotion whole-heartedly
There is no second opinion that disappointment hurts; sometimes a bit, and sometimes a lot. The second-best approach to deal with disappointment is face to with its gravity.
The more whole-heartedly you face it, the more strongly you can heal from it. Once you accept that you are feeling low due to the betrayal you got from your friend, you will become cautious and lower your expectations. Then you will start extracting lessons from the setback.
In this way, you will not only heal from the setback but also equip yourself with a valuable lesson. So, this technique is also helpful in coping with disappointment.
3. Find Meaning in your current situation
Victor Frankl in his bestseller book Meaning of life expresses his thoughts that humans can adapt to any situation.
Talking about his experience in the Nazi concentration camps, he explained that the situation in camps was worse and only death was inevitable in those gas chambers. But with the belief that he would be in a better place once this phase is passed, he kept his head high.
So, like Victor Frankle, we all can find meaning in our disappointing situations. By finding meaning in the existing circumstances, we can manage and confront any challenge.
For example, you applied for a job and you could not get that job due to high competition. Instead of getting disappointed in it, gather yourself for the next opportunity waiting for you.
4. Reroute your journey with great energy
Sometimes we attach ourselves to certain outcomes, and when those outcomes are not materialized, we feel devastated.
We become myopic and do not see any other route that will take us to the destination we have imagined. We limit ourselves and do not think of the other possible routes.
So, when you experience a setback from route one, instead of lamenting and wasting your time there, try to reroute yourself to another path.
This will significantly open new ways for you, and the disappointment you have will be channeled into the energy required to follow that way.
Pro-Tip
Life is full of mysteries. We prepare for one thing, but an unexpected event happens that disappoints us and shatters all the expectations we have.
The best way to deal with disappointment is to avoid it. Now the question is how can we avoid it? The simple answer to this is by setting realistic goals, breaking all the illusions, and false perceptions we have made.
Although this seems difficult at the start, once you start observing things in perspective, things start making sense. Then, instead of disappointing in the happenings, we start looking for a logical answer to our problems.
Final Thoughts:
Dealing with disappointment is difficult, and heart-wrenching. But with the systematic approach, we can overcome it.
So, which one of the above techniques you are going to adopt to defeat disappointment?
