25 Ways To Overcome Disappointment – How To Move On After A Disappointing Situation

After years of saving for the trip, the long awaited day arrives and the view is breathtaking. You’re on the edge of the Grand Canyon looking across at the vast beauty when all of a sudden the wind blows really hard at your back. Since it was so unexpected, you lose footing and plummet to your death.

That is how disappointment feels – full of fear and very permanent.

For three months I have been fighting with a my turtle’s water filter pump. During the past nine years of being a “Turtle Whisperer,” I have encountered many problems that threaten the cleanliness of Turtle’s home.

When the frustration level at being unable to arrange the basking rocks without having them wobble or get the pump working properly becomes too much, I usually cry. Yeah, I can hear you say, “Crying doesn’t fix the problem,” but I just can’t help it.

I finally bought a new filtration pump this week. So I set aside six hours on Saturday to clean the tank and put the pump together. I knew the agony that awaited and so I faced it with dread.

After eating breakfast, I embarked on the adventure. Everything was going great until I primed the pump and waited for it to start.

…Until I primed the pump and waited for it to start.

…Until I primed the pump and waited for it to start.

…Until I primed the pump and waited for it to start.

No matter what I did, the pump would not start even though I had spent the last seven hours working on the whole turtle tank thing. Tears were awfully close to spilling over when I decided enough was enough.

I took Turtle out of his makeshift holding box and set him gently on the basking rocks. He stayed there for a minute and then slid into the crystal clear water quite happily.

However, there are only sucker tabs where there should be a filtration pump in the tank.

I have a new plan.

Tomorrow I will return the defective pump and get my money back. No, I do not plan on throwing the pump at the sales girl who insisted that it would work for a turtle. (rolling eyes) I already have another store holding a different kind of pump, so I am hopeful that it will be an easy install with a happy ending.

Giving up is not an option.

“You must make a decision
that you are going to move on.
It wont happen automatically.
You will have to rise up and say,
‘I don’t care how hard this is,
I don’t care how disappointed I am,
I’m not going to
let this get the best of me.
I’m moving on with my life.‘”~ Joel Osteen ~

I know that many people, including my mother, think that I’m a little overboard with my attention with the turtle. Actually, I love Turtle. He is unobtrusive and peacefully swims around the tank every day. The turtle helps me relax and I love the sound of the water flowing in the tank.

Turtle does things other than swim and dive. For instance, he is an avid reader.

Seriously!

I can put any reading material in front of him and he stops to read it. Turtle moves his head from one side to the other apparently reading the words.

Okay, I know Turtle can’t read, but it sure looks like he reads!

More than any trick that Turtle may perform, he loves me back. (humor me)

The moment I walk up to the tank, Turtle makes a point to come over to connect with me.

If I were wearing red nail polish, he would try to bite my nail because it would look like a fish. However, today I didn’t have any polish on and Turtle still came over to give me a hug and a kiss…well, kinda.

Disappointments happen to everyone.

I try to think about it like this…

“But there were worse things
than disappointment,
and I’d lived through several
of them already.” R.J. Anderson
Never a truer statement made than that one.

How To Overcome Disappointment

There are several things you can do or remember to help overcome disappointment:

• Focus on positiveness in the future
• Take time to grieve
• Don’t let it make you lash out in anger
• Count your blessings
• Remember the big picture and dream big
• Meditate/Pray
• Let the disappointment motivate you
• Don’t become fixated on the disappointment
• Plan for a change
• Ignore the negatives from others
• Become solution focused
• Know that your dreams can come true
• Don’t feel alone – Everyone suffers disappointments
• Re-evaluate your goals
• Write about it/Keep a journal
• Don’t minimize the situation if it really caused pain
• Forgive yourself, others or the situation
• Accept that bad things happen to good people
• Find humor everywhere possible
• Don’t let disappointment make you bitter
• Keep things in perspective
• Talk to a counselor, family member or friend
• Persevere and don’t give up
• Don’t fear future situations or outcomes
• It’s never too late to try again

These tips can apply to any disappointment encountered in life.

The three tips that I want to highlight are the last three on the list. No matter how much you fear the future, it isn’t ever too late to try again, so don’t give up. Happiness and success is closer than you believe, but it will remain elusive unless you keep taking one step in front of the other.

I know that coping with years of trying to have a baby, starting the career you’ve always wanted after a recent job loss or finding the mate of your dreams after a painful divorce isn’t easy, but it is possible.

Disappointment can be overcome and happiness is not elusive.

Believe me, tomorrow after the water filtration pump is working in the turtle’s tank, I will be happy and so will Turtle. The disappointment of today will gently fade into a distant memory. The thing most remembered will be that I didn’t give up and that I am still able to enjoy Turtle.

“Twenty years from now
you will be more disappointed
by the things that you didn’t do
than by the ones you did do.
So throw off the bowlines.
Sail away from the safe harbor.
Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore. Dream. Discover.”? Mark Twain