Dealing With Personal Disappointment
I have returned from my travels in the US and I am back to business today. I have been contemplating the way disappointment effects our mental health. I admit, that my travels in the US were not all I had hoped they would be. This is both professional and personal disappointment. This got me thinking about the number of people who have come to see me who in some way shape or form have allowed their personal or professional disappointments to negatively effect their mental health. I can tell you that the number is frighteningly high.
People are generally in a constant life struggle to keep at bay their disappointments and to celebrate their successes. I was thinking that Hemingway had it right in “If” when considering successes and failures. Failures no matter how significant, can lead to personal development and knowledge which success cannot offer. I know that sounds hard to imagine, but it is true, it is not our successes which define us, in reality any idiot can be successful. To be well rounded and mentally balanced one must experience and get through our disappointments and learn from them. Once we learn, we grow in strength mentally, emotionally and in some cases physically.
