This week, I’m LOVING the breakthrough one of my clients had.

You know, that’s one of my favorite things about being a coach. And it’s why I’ve always loved leading and mentoring people in my corporate career. 

You get to experience people’s growth and evolution and personal victories up close.  

Watching people turn a goal or dream into reality is so inspiring for me. I love movies and shows and books about people who try to do something big, go all out to make it happen and when it DOES…it’s such an incredible high.  

There’s always something you can learn by watching people as they strive for new things and go through the inevitable ups and downs on their way to that goal.

And this client’s journey was even more inspiring because it wasn’t about her achieving the big thing she was going for. 

It was about how she processed through NOT achieving it.

How she handled the disappointment she felt not only with grace and ease but maybe more importantly, the way she worked to find the lessons that could help her in the future.

Life doesn’t always turn out as planned. We all know that.

But it’s how we HANDLE THAT REALITY and what we DO with that, that determines whether we keep moving forward, keep showing up, keep a good attitude, keep our drive and motivation…

Or, whether we just kind of give up.

Tell ourselves things never work out for us.

Or we just don’t have what it takes.

Or that it’s all somebody else’s fault.     

We all know somebody who’s stuck in Disappointment.

They WANTED (very much) something specific to happen and it DIDN’T. 

Now, it’s all they can think about and talk about.

They’re blaming their boss. Or their colleagues. Or their partner. Or whatever.

And it’s sad and exhausting to watch, right? 

Maybe it’s even happened with you. I know it has with me at times in my past.

You can just get stuck in the spinning, the anger, the blame, the victimhood. 

And I don’t know if there’s anything more tragic.

It’s a waste of energy and frankly, our time on this planet. 

It keeps us from realizing our true potential.

It holds us back because we’re so focused on what DIDN’T happen that we stop thinking about our future possibilities because we’re stuck in our past.    

That’s why today, I want to talk to you about Accepting Disappointment.

Because when you learn how to get good at this, when you learn how to effectively manage through things when they DON’T go your way, it will make all the difference in what your future life looks like.   

So, let’s dive in.

I think the first clue about what’s difficult about disappointment is found in the Webster’s definition of it. According to Webster's, disappointment is ‘unhappiness stemming from the failure of something hoped for or expected to happen’.”

But in my opinion, the psychologist’s definition lands right on the mark. Psychologists describe it as “a form of sadness; a feeling of loss stemming from a gap between our expectations and reality.”

The gap between our expectations and reality. That says it all. 

For more, give it a listen!

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