Disappointment

THE LULU CHRONICLES

Disappointment. How do you handle it? As most of you know I’m from Wisconsin. On Sunday the Green Bay Packers lost their play-off bid with a heartbreaking game. We had high hopes. We’d won the Super Bowl last year. We had a 15-1 season. We were world championship bound. And then Sunday happened. Arrrg.

Disappointment hurts, but without it, we’d all turn into spoiled folks with skin so thin that a broken fingernail would send us into a depression that even chocolate fudge couldn’t reach.

Disappointment helps us put life in perspective and it gives us a practice ground to strengthen our character and to discover what truly matters. I mean really, what if everything always went our way? I’m thinking we’d turn into big, fat babies crying every time someone took our candy away.

I have a husband who is still fighting cancer. I have a dad who is losing himself to Alzheimer’s. I simply cannot afford to invest too much emotional energy into something that simply doesn’t matter, no matter how disappointing it is. Yeah, I wanted the Packers to kick major butt on Sunday. I was cheering. I was waving my Title Towel. Our little group was high-five-ing all over the place. Our mascot, Vince, the Packer Pig, was sitting in front of the TV projecting his mojo over the game. But when the buzzard sounded all that really happened was a game lost. Not a life. Not a reputation. Not a marriage. Not anything important. As bummed as I was, it was great practice to see how quickly I could adjust, to reset the mind, haul in the perspective and normalize.

Disappointment hurts, but rarely is it fatal. Use it to your advantage. Allow it to seed new hope for what comes next.

Later,

deb