It had been a while since I had my favourite dish, plain hot Spaghetti and Sardines π. I already had my tin of Titus sardine ready, what was left was the hot Spaghetti and the tasty stew to match. So I threw on the first thing I saw when I opened my wardrobe and like that, I was off to the cafeteria to get it. 30 minutes later, I was back to my room with a bowl of cold spaghetti π’. Who knows, It could taste nice afterall, I thought to myself while I cracked open the tin of sardine, poured out the excess oil and poured out the fishes to my plate. I did the mixing and viola! My favourite dish was ready... or so I thought. After my first spoon, I fell out of love π. My sweet memory of my love was replaced with the irritating taste of failure. A couple of spoons down the line, I couldn't take it, I gave it to my roommate out of my great respect for food. But still, I was disappointed π! The only food that I was sure I could eat at any time and still be satisfied had failed me π³. Once again, the cafeteria cooks succeeded in breaking my heart π§.
That was my recent taste of disappointment! My favourite dish turned to my source of anguish. For most, it usually comes in more serious forms like when you were a kid, your parents promise you a gift if you did something and after doing it, boom! They disappoint you, or you see your mum going out and you want to follow her, she tells you to go inside to put on your shoes, you go in only to come out and see she left without you ππ£. You already had your day planned, you spend X hours here, Y minutes there and by 6pm you meet with someone for dinner and have the most exciting discussion. But instead, you spend your whole day stuck in traffic and you don't get anything done π. You already had your whole life planned out, you'd finish school, get this amazing job or start this great business, have 3 beautiful kids with your lovely spouse who you'd be head over heels in love with for the rest of your life but reality sets in and everything, literally everything goes wrong.
It's worse when you're the disappointment! When your parents expect so much from you and no matter how much you try, you don't meet up or even when your parents don't expect much but you just feel like you aren't making them proud enough π. At school when you feel like you could get better grades or at work when you feel you could do better things if only you're given the opportunity, then you eventually get the opportunity and you don't deliver π.
It sucks! I know.
All those times that they tell us those nursery rhymes "if you fail to plan, you plan to fail" or "Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance" they forgot to tell us that we'd get disappointed alot often than not. That even if we have every single detail planned out one single thing could happen and that one thing could literally turn our lives upside down. They never tell us these things. They never prepare us to fail. π.
Then there's this notion about avoiding disappointment, simply not expecting anything from anybody including yourself and you'll never get disappointed. Simply put, when there are no expectations, there can be no disappointment. I personally tried this for a while. As simple as it might seem, it'd be weird going into life with literally no expectations and just taking whatever life serves you Right π? Think of it like walking into a fancy restaurant, the waiter comes and presents you with the menu and then you just turn to waiter and say "Don't worry, I'll just have anything you have". The waiter would not be the only be confused, but he'd be tempted to question your sanity and when he eventually leaves your table, he might not come back with anything for you or maybe he'd come back with the most expensive thing on the menu and I don't think your wallet would like that π. So that's probably a bad idea.
So here's what I think, rather than avoid disappointment by living bare non expectant lives, face it, expect it, embrace it with open arms. Optimism does have its virtues but optimism mixed with realism serves the best spaghetti and Sardines π. You must make the decision that you're going to move on. It won't happen automatically.
So let's not be like those who believe that whatever they can't perceive doesn't exist, let's always remember the guy that people hardly talk about, let's remember disappointment in our plans and maybe, just maybe when he comes, he would not bring us so much heartache after all π
So that's what Edna thinks, let me know what you think in the comment section. Also, don't disappoint Edna, tell someone about this blog too π
Comments
1)Disappointments can still exist because some expectations are latent....They are implicit.So while we may actively prevent being disappointed on the larger scale,there are inherent expectations we can never eliminate.
2)It does more harm...It sacrifices purposeful living for wretchedness and spontaneity...
I guess we'll just have to get better at handling it
Disappointment is really not a feeling to experience..but oh well!!we encounter so many situations that make us feel disappointed and highly vulnerable at that point..like being turned down during a job interview or been replaced with someone else for a position or something you highly hoped for...well its up to us on how we are able to cope with the outcomes... I look forward to more of you piece Ednaπ...Nice one