How to cope better with disappointment | MattFoxCoaching.com

How to cope better with disappointment

It happens to us all. The news you didn't want, the job offer that didn’t come through.

Being side-lined or overlooked when the value you give is so patently obvious.

When something disappointing happens, it’s hard not to take it deeply personally.

To want to make it about ourselves.

To fall into a pit of introspection about what did and didn’t happen.

Or to turn the frustration outwards. Feel the anger and venom towards the apparent wrongdoers.

It’s all completely normal.

It can be so tempting to want to slam the door on the injuring party.

To let them have it.

Or then to collapse into guilt and embarrassment for letting your emotions show or get the better of you.

The anger is helpful. It’s a release of energy, but we don’t want to act from the anger or act it out.

The anger points us back home to ourselves. To a place of more compassion for our own experience.

And then, when it clears out, there is more spaciousness for creative thinking to come in.

You might ask yourself:

What can I make from this situation?

What have I learnt about myself from having lived this?

What might I not want to repeat or experience again?

The other side of disappointment is a blank sheet of paper to create something new.

By all means, allow the experience fully in, knowing that it will lead you to something new:

A new way of seeing things

A new way of being

More clarity about what you want and don’t want…

Photo by Luo Lei on Unsplash