Disappointment comes at all corners of life. Disappointment is going to the ice cream shop... only to find out they are out of your favorite type. Disappointment is getting psyched up for a movie .... only to find it's sold out. Or disappointment can be getting your hopes up ... only to have someone bring it down (generally by pointing out the realities).
How a person deals with disappointment can say a lot about who they are. Do you sulk off and hide until you get over the disappointment or do you think of how you can turn it around into a positive.
Last year my boyfriend decided that he wanted to go on a fishing trip to Tennessee. He had to book it a year in advance to secure his spot with the river guide we wanted to go with - otherwise he wouldn't be able to go. About a week before the trip he got a call from the guide cancelling the trip due to the river being high and flooding. He was, for a minute, very disappointed. But, he decided there wasn't anything he could do about it, and so he planned another trip for next year and spent this years vacation time at the Roanoke River - where he caught over 90 Striped Bass.
So... remember the next time you have a disappointment in your life (weather it is ice cream or something more serious) that there may be something that you can do to turn that disappointment into a positive. And if you can't, then try to remember all the positives that already exist in your life.
An as an anonymous person on the Internet once said "When life hands you lemons make lemonade, build a lemonade stand, and rake in the dough".
While I've always considered myself an affectionate person, it wasn't until I was 15 that I truly understood the power of a simple hug. My parents had been having problems for quite awhile and before I left for summer camp my mother had sat me down and told me that there was a good chance that she would file for separation from my dad before the end of the summer. I left for summer camp with that in the back of my mind, but managed to put it out of my thoughts for most of the time there.
My summer camp was a Christian sailing camp, and as part of the experience we got to take over night sailing trips. We arrived at Yogi campground that night and went through the usual process of setting up tents and having supper before we were released for free time. All of us teenagers had different ideas of free time and separated. Somehow I found myself sitting in children’s play train and got lost in my thoughts of my parents impending separation. Who would I live with? Where would I go for Christmas? There would be no more family vacations with dad and mom and the beach house. No more trips to the ECU football games together, and it was at that moment that I began to face the fact my life would change. Thinking about it began to make me cry.
I took a walk thinking it would clear my head and ended up back on one of the sailboats that had been pulled up to the shore of the river. At that point I lost it. As I thought of my parents and what my life was going to be like I couldn't help crying. My friend Andrew (who had come to camp with me, and who I have known since I was 7) came looking for me. I heard him behind me. When he saw me crying he immediately asked me what was wrong. I let it all out, and told him everything - that first person I had ever told my parents were having problems.
I'll never forget... instead of trying to tell me it was going to be ok, that I would be alright. He just hugged me and held me and listened to me cry. He must of sat there, holding me, for a good 15 minutes in silence - just letting me be. At that moment that was all I needed, I just needed someone to listen, and to hug me. Eventually I stopped crying and went back to the campground.
But I never forgot, and will never forget, how much that simple hug and open ear meant on that summer night.
Pain. Searing, overwhelming, radiating pain. That is all I remember feeling as I laid in the cold, wet snow on the side of Sugar Mountain. Somehow, in managing to avoid the beginner skiers camped out in the middle of the ski slope, I had panicked and picked up uncontrollable speed and subsequently I had fallen. I don’t remember the fall itself, but I do remember the pain. Luckily, another lady had fallen near me (it must have been a real popular place to fall). I have to say she was my guardian angel that day. She crawled over to me (because if you ever been skiing you know how hard it is to get up from any fall). She looked at me from beneath the hood of a ski parka.
"Can you get up?" she asked.
"No… it’s my knee" (it was about all I could do to get that out).
"Are you here with anyone? Can I help you find someone?"
"My friend, Jennifer. She’s in a white ski parka with fur. She was coming down behind me. Please try to flag her."
The lady flagged a skier down.
"Tell them we need ski patrol up here. She’s hurt her knee and there is no way she can ski or walk down".
After she’d done that she immediately began to look for Jen. All I could think was that Jen and her boyfriend were going to get to the bottom and not be able to find me. They’d probably think that I’d gone up again and would keep on skiing – while I was hanging out in the ski lodge’s medic unit with a knee that felt like someone had twisted it out of the socket.
Lost in my thoughts, the ladies chuckle brought me back.
"Well, I found your friend. She feel about 3 feet from you"
My best friend had fallen only three feet from me. I couldn’t help but laugh. I looked over and saw Jen starting to get up. I called out for her and she finally turned around and saw me.
"What happened? Are you ok?"
I explained to her as best I could how I fell, and that I was sure I’d hurt my knee cause I’d never felt so much pain in my life. Finally John showed up also went after ski patrol. It seems like hours (although I’m sure it was only a few minutes) before the ski patrol snowmobile came to take me down the mountain. I’d always thought it would be fun to ride in one of those thing…. Boy was I wrong.
"Yes I am young? So What"
"Careful! Fragile!: Contents are Under Pressure"
"Better Than I Think I am"
"The New Kid On The Block"
