Question of the Day
BFF* Ruthie posed to me today a whopper of a question that I am posting here for two reasons. One, if I post it, I have to wrestle with it... there's a built-in accountability in blogging about something and leaving it unfinished. You feel like you owe it to people to finish what you started.
Two, I'm sure there are some of you out there who would have much wisdom to contribute toward forming an answer. Hence, this is also an invitation to jump in with your own thoughts.
My answer is percolating now but is not yet full-strength.
The question is this:
What do you do with your disappointment to keep it from turning into despair?
Think on this, cyber-friends. I shall return with some thoughts soon.
*BFF=Best Friend Forever, a title Ruthie has earned by sticking with me through the majority of my not-so-attractive times in life and living to tell about it. I use it here to let her know that I just finished reading Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and am also percolating some ideas on what it means to be a woman, a conversation we have been having for a while now and might someday make it up onto the blog as well. How's that for a related and yet not-related footnote?
Two, I'm sure there are some of you out there who would have much wisdom to contribute toward forming an answer. Hence, this is also an invitation to jump in with your own thoughts.
My answer is percolating now but is not yet full-strength.
The question is this:
What do you do with your disappointment to keep it from turning into despair?
Think on this, cyber-friends. I shall return with some thoughts soon.
*BFF=Best Friend Forever, a title Ruthie has earned by sticking with me through the majority of my not-so-attractive times in life and living to tell about it. I use it here to let her know that I just finished reading Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and am also percolating some ideas on what it means to be a woman, a conversation we have been having for a while now and might someday make it up onto the blog as well. How's that for a related and yet not-related footnote?
posted by Mamabird @ 11:20 PM
6 Comments:
At 9:12 PM,
Dy said…
I used to wallow in despair, then move to another city and start over. That's not such a practical approach to life when you have a family, though.
Now I've learned to readjust my expectations. Let my goals be redefined. Look for the good God can bring out of it, and strive for that.
I have a weird Christian Objectivist slant to things, though. Some would say that's impossible. Ha! I say, "It works."
I do, however, really look forward to your probably better thought-out and more mulled response. :-)
Dy
At 5:32 AM,
Mama Heffalump said…
Well, I know this might not make sense to alot of people, but after stewing in it for a bit, I pray for God to show me the humor in the situation. I believe if I couldn't laugh about things, they would eat me up inside until I was just plain miserable. Being miserable is a terrible waste of time... *grin*
At 6:21 PM,
melissa said…
I like what dy said about being the Christian Objectivist. I think dissapointment is natural, but despair seems to me, to be a giving up, of sorts. To me it points to a place where MY thinking is flawed, because I don't think that I would feel "DESPAIR", if I remembered that all is ultimately in God's hands..........the outcome is not mine to control. Does that make ANY sense?
P.S. I LOVE the name Ruthie! So southern!
At 11:12 PM,
Dy said…
Melissa, I'm really (really) glad somebody "got" that. After I hit enter, I thought, "OK, yeah, that one looks strange in type..." :-)
Dy
At 8:03 PM,
Patty in WA or Rover said…
I do NOT do this perfectly, or even very well, but it is true in the sense of Truth.
God loves me. I am never out of God's thoughts. If he ever stopped thinking of me for even a few seconds, I would cease to exist. God loves me so much that he will use every circumstance, perhaps even deliver to me circumstances that will draw me to him. These *particular* circumstances would not be the ones I would have chosen, or ones that those around me or "the world" or even I myself would call "good". But in his perfect love for me, God has chosen them to draw me nearer to him, to perfect me.
Now, live into THAT reality.
At 1:07 PM,
Anonymous said…
I think it's cool that MFR (My Friend Ruthie) posed this question, because I,too have wondered lately what to do with disappointment. I have no answers, just an observation. It seems to me that many other emotions have distinct, if not instinctive external responses that help us express, and therefore, manage those emotional states. (e.g. sadness:tears, happiness:smiles, anger:frowns, etc.)Disappointment, to me is a much more complex emotion that is not alleviated with a big cry-fest. I think, as such, that it is difficult to express adequately, so it can leave you feeling misunderstood and even demoralized when you are unable to communicate to others (or even yourself!) just exactly what you're feelng. There seems to be no one single expression that relieves disappointment, and even the most empathetic response from someone else just seems to fall short. I think that's why it invites such deep introspection. However, without some serious grounding in the Truth, deep introspection due to hurt can easily slip away into despair.
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