Those words hit me hard when a former pastor said those to me many years ago. The issue he was disappointed in me about was very trivial but it was still difficult to hear.
It wasn't the first time nor that last time I have disappointed someone. I have also suffered some stingy disappointment myself. We all have.
If you live long enough people are going to disappoint you.
Sometimes we either set our expectations too high for people to meet. There are also times when we get burned so many times that we look for reasons to be disappointed. We look for reasons to be disappointed so we can confirm those expectations.
Life is not a journey without people letting us down. If there is one thing I learned about being disappointed in people is that it will happen but can't allow it to cause us to expect everyone to let us down. People are human and imperfect. We have to understand that. Sometimes people fail us. It isn’t always intentional. When it happens we can’t let it overcome us.
If someone disappoints us, we should first give them a chance to explain. Sometimes it could be a misunderstanding. If it isn’t, we have to be willing to forgive and reconcile the relationship with the person who disappointed us. If forgiveness doesn’t work then we just need to walk away.
Has this person done this before? Is this a recurring thing?
Sometimes you just have to let it go. Don’t hang onto it and don’t let the negative feeling become emotional baggage.
Also remember that you have disappointed people too. How would we want to be treated if we were the ones who disappointed someone?
Disappointment stings. It hurts. There are people right now we all can think of that are a disappointment to us. They have either done or said something that changed our relationship with them in some way. Sadly, people will let us down but we have to be quick to bounce back from the disappointment. We can overcome it and decide how to navigate through it. Maybe it means we have to permanently end our relationship with someone or it may also mean that we must negotiate how a relationship will proceed from the disappointment. In my own life I can look back and see those examples. With some I have had to burn bridges and move on from the disappointment and others where issues were resolved and continued.
Don't look for chances to be disappointed because you will find it. Instead, be someone that responds better to it and learns from it.
