Prayer To Overcome Disappointments

5 Ways To Overcome Disappointments

Last Updated on June 13, 2019

Think you have a boring life?

The definition of boring is dull or not interesting. Maybe you’ve been doing the same thing and living the same life for too long, or maybe your daily routine is limiting your growth and happiness.

Whatever your reason is, the following list of 20 things can definitely make any day more interesting.

Some of them are silly, while some are more meaningful, so hopefully just reading the list makes your life less boring and sparks your creativity.

Let’s dive in the list to quit your boring life and start living an interesting (and meaning) one!

1. Channel Your 7-Year-Old Self

What would he or she want to do right now? Color? Paint? Run around outside? Play dress up? Eat with your hands? Play that instrument hiding in the back of your closet that you haven’t touched in years?

Just because you’re a grown up doesn’t mean any of this stuff will be less enjoyable than you remember it. Give yourself permission to play.

2. Go Play with Kids

Speaking of little kids, if you have your own or access to any (in a non-creepy way, they’re your niece or your best friend’s kid, you get the idea) go play with them!

They didn’t create an entire show called Kids Say The Darndest Things because kids aren’t hilarious. They also keep things so simple, and we can really stand to be reminded of this and stop allowing ourselves to get bogged down in boring details.

3. Order a Hot Dog

While you’re eating it, Google: “What’s in a hot dog?” You decide whether or not you want to finish it.

4. For the Ladies: Wear Your Sexiest Lingerie Under Your Work Clothes

Your “little secret” will leave you feeling anything but boring all day!

5. Play Cell Phone Roulette

You’ll need at least one buddy for this. Scroll through the contacts in your phone, stop on a random one and call the person.

You could spark an incredible catch up session or be incredibly awkward. Neither are boring.

6. Fill out a Pack of Thank-You Cards

Give them to random people who probably don’t get thanked too often for doing what they do ever day.

Ideas: police officers, librarians, servers, baristas, cab drivers, sanitation workers, teachers, people behind any check out counter, receptionists, your friends, the guy at the falafel stand, etc.

7. Sign up for a Class in Something You’ve “Always Wanted to Do”, or Something That Makes You Really Uncomfortable

Ideas: pole dancing, salsa lessons, improv, pottery, cooking, knitting (yup, there are classes for this, too!), karate, boxing, something techy the workshops they run in Apple stores, get Rosetta Stone and learn that language you’ve always wanted to speak, etc.

What’s good about joining an interest class is that you will also meet new people!

8. Interview Your Grandparents About Their Lives

You can bet they’ve had some crazy experiences you probably never knew about.

9. Get up on Stage at an Open Mic Night

Whether you’re funny or not, get up on stage and just talk funny. And if you’re not, memorize a few of your favorite jokes and tell those!

10. Do Something for Someone Else That You Wish Someone Would Do for You

We all have a few ideas on this list. I promise you will feel amazing after and anything but bored.

11. Start a DIY Project in Your Home

It doesn’t have to be super complicated. If you need ideas, there’re plenty on Pinterest. Or you can also check out these 30 Awesome DIY Projects that You’ve Never Heard of.

12. Plan a Weekend Trip or an All-Out Vacation

This will give you something to look forward to.

Even if you don’t have the time or money to go on a vacation, plan for a staycation, which is same fun and relaxing!

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13. People Watch

Find a bench in a crowded area (centers of transportation airports, bus stops and train stations are great for this!) and just observe.

People are infinitely interesting.

14. Eat Something You’ve Never Eaten Before

Bonus points if it’s a random fruit or veggie.

15. Dance

You can get your friends together for a night on the town or just pull up a video on  and bust a move from your own living room.

If you’re feeling extra brave, you can even dance in public and get other people involved.

16. Go to and Search “Funny Pets” or “Funny Babies”

This is also a great quickie ab workout as you will be laughing hysterically.

17. Pick up a Book and Start Reading

Check out the NY Times Best Sellers lists and grab a new book you can get lost in.

18. Step Away from the Computer and Go Get Some Time with People You Care About in Real Life

stalking doesn’t count as real social interaction. You can even share this post with your friends and vote on which one you’d to do together!

19. Check out a Museum You’ve Never Been to Before

OK, depending on your interests, this one might actually be boring. If you love learning, art or different cultures though, this one is for you!

20. Write a List of Things You Desire and Truly Want

This is a great way to help you figure out the real reason why you’re feeling bored about your life. Maybe you haven’t really done things that you truly enjoy? Maybe what you’ve wanted to do all the time has been left behind?

Think about the list of things you really want to do, and ask yourself why you aren’t doing these things (yet). Then start taking your first step to make what you want happen.

Now go make your life interesting and live your dream life!

More About Living a Fulfilling Life

Featured photo credit: Kev Costello via unsplash.com

Источник: //www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/5-ways-overcome-disappointments.html

9 Ways to Overcome Disappointment

Life is filled with opportunities to be disappointed. You don’t get into your top choice college. You are passed over for a promotion at work. You can’t sit in a split even after stretching daily for months.

You can be disappointed by things within your control, your eating habits or your inability to be on time, or you can also be disappointed by things entirely your control, rain on a camping trip or being turned down when you ask someone out.

The Oxford Dictionary defines disappointment as “the feeling of sadness or displeasure caused by the nonfulfillment of one's hopes or expectations.

” I to tweak this a bit to read, “the feeling of sadness or displeasure we choose when our hopes or expectation are not met.

” This difference is subtle but it places the power and the responsibility back to self rather than allowing another person or circumstance to hijack your emotions.

Why is this important? It’s the key to becoming resilient and developing a mindset that enables you to keep trying when things aren’t going the way you want.

Why Do You Feel Disappointed?

Many people choose disappointment as a way of motivating themselves to do something different next time.

The power of this negative emotional charge might be the push you need to dig deeper, work harder, or try again. This only works, however, when you are in control of what caused the disappointment.

For example, becoming discouraged over bad weather on your day off is not ly to change the weather, but what it will do is make your day even worse as you slip into a funk and wallow in self-pity. It’s a downward spiral.

9 Tips to Break the Disappointment Pattern

To avoid slipping into a funk, here are a few tips to break the disappointment pattern:

1. 1. Minimize your fight-or-flight reaction by breathing deeply, taking a quick walk outside, or finding time to meditate. You want to observe how you feel but not allow that feeling to overwhelm or control you.
   2. Adopt the perspective of an observer rather than a participant and see if, from this perspective, there is a way to turn disappointment into opportunity. Detaching this allows you to see with increased clarity.
   3. Notice if there were things you might have done differently that would have led to a better outcome. Try not to judge yourself. Be gentle and understanding. Extend to yourself the same kindness you would to a small child.
   4. Avoid thinking limiting thoughts , “things never work out” or “this always happens to me.” These thought patterns don’t support your success and they trick you into thinking you can’t before you even try.
   5. Find someone to talk with who has had a similar experience. This can be a support group, a friend or mentor, or even an internet chatroom. The goal isn’t to swap sad stories. but to help one another recognize common humanity. Everyone experiences something disappointing and sharing stories can help remind you of this.
   6. Remember that there is always something to learn. Every experience brings an opportunity to learn from it.
   7. Create a personal narrative that supports your success. When you get a “no,” tell yourself you are one “no” closer to a “yes.” When your plane is delayed, causing a missed connection, tell yourself that your family will be even more excited to see you tomorrow. When you step on the scale and it is only down half a pound, remind yourself that you have more muscle and being healthy isn’t the same as weighing less.
   8. Celebrate that you know what you want. By having the feeling of disappointment, it shows that you know what your goal is. Many people haven’t even got a clear goal in mind. Instead of beating yourself up when you feel disappointment, choose to use that feeling as a reminder that you know where you are going and the goal is still in sight.
   9. Choose your next action. You can give up, you can keep going on your current trajectory, or you can adapt and try a different way. If you keep sending out resumes without response, you could edit your resume, you could apply for a different kind of job, or you can keep doing what you have been doing.

The key to overcoming disappointment is to use it to your benefit rather than allowing yourself to get bogged down by it. And remember these wise words:

“Don’t let today’s disappointments cast a shadow on tomorrow’s dreams.” ―Unknown

Источник: //chopra.com/articles/9-ways-to-overcome-disappointment

Overcoming Disappointment

The question isn’t Will we be disappointed?

But rather How will we handle disappointment when it comes?

Left unresolved, disappointment can lead to bitterness and unforgiveness, which can ultimately prevent us from walking in the purpose God has for us.  

It can even affect the direction we take for our lives.

I’ll never forget the first time I spoke in public. I was a freshman in college and Public Speaking was a required course for my major.

It seemed it would be fun and I was actually looking forward to the class.

Until the day I had to give my first speech.

I was assigned a topic: baseball and a time limit: 3 minutes.

Seems pretty doable, right?

Not exactly.

I was speechless, even though the words were written on the sheet in front of me

The moment I looked up and saw all 15 pairs of eyes staring at me—I froze.

I ran the class in the middle of my speech, determining to change my major.

I went to my professor to explain that I was not cut out for public speaking and that I would be dropping his class. To my surprise, he agreed and proceeded to scold me for leaving in the middle of class.

I was heartbroken.

Not only did I feel a failure, but my professor was agreeing with that label. I’d secretly hoped he would deny my request and give me a “give it another go, girl”.

But he didn’t.

I did end up changing my major to something that didn’t require public speaking. I settled into a comfortable Business Administration degree, where I could stay behind the scenes and avoid the risk of humiliation again.

It’s been 24 years since I walked that classroom

Yet there are still remnants of disappointment that rise up from that situation.

As I’ve searched God’s Word I’ve found several key ingredients to protecting my heart from disappointments.

Control Your Thoughts 

When I left the classroom that day, I was plagued with defeating thoughts.

You didn’t practice long enough. If you would have, you could’ve nailed that speech.

You’re just not a speaker. No one really wants to listen to what you have to say anyway.

It’s best to drop this class, so you’ll never have to see those people again.

When faced with disappointment, I’ve found this to be true:

The enemy tries hard to not just attack our behavior, but our identity. Click To Tweet

He wants to convince us that not only did we fail, but we are failures.

Do you see the difference?

One statement says, “You failed.” We can accept that. We all fail sometimes.

The other statement says, “You are a failure.”

That generalization is a lot harder to swallow. It implies we didn’t just fail at this one thing, but that we will fail at everything, because that is who we are.

The moment I left, I had a choice.

I could focus on my defeating thoughts and buy into the lie that I was a failure, or I could choose to focus on the truth and believe I would do better the next time. I’d love to say that I overcame disappointment that day, but that would not be the truth. I chose to believe that I was not a speaker and that I didn’t have a message.

Looking back, I see how the enemy stopped me from pursuing what God has called me to do.

Fear and insecurity prevented me from sharing my voice, not about baseball, but about Christ.

The stakes were a lot higher.

We are all confronted with the choice to believe the lies of the enemy or the truth of God’s word. This scripture has helped me to overcome those fears and step out into what God has called me to do.

 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Philippians 4:8 NLT

When things don’t go the way we plan, we have to make a conscious effort to fix our thoughts on the right things. We have to remind ourselves what God says about us.

Our circumstances, our failures, our successes—do not define who we are.

Our feelings definitely do not define who we are.

When we are faced with disappointment, guarding our thoughts will become key in working through the hurts and protecting our identity. If we meditate on what is true we will come out victorious, secure in Christ.

Relational Expectations

 Relationships provide many opportunities for us to be disappointed.

People aren’t perfect.

Those imperfect people are often hurt and in turn hurt other people.

I have been on both sides of the equation—I’ve been the one hurt and the one hurting others. The pains we experience become a grid through which we respond to others.

If we feel threatened, those past hurts rise to the surface and we naturally want to guard against them. Yet, we often forget that others who are hurting do the same thing.

Somehow we think that they should respond differently.

 Several years ago after several bouts with relational disappointments, I was given a piece of advice that really helped me see the importance of expectations.

I was told, “Alisa, you need to lower your expectations.

You’re expecting something from this person that they can never give you.”

When my professor responded the way he did I let his words pierce into my soul.

The truth is, I had known the guy for a few weeks. He didn’t know me and he certainly wasn’t equipped to speak into my life.

He probably saw me quitting and thought it was a reflection of his teaching. Whatever the case, the ugly words he spoke to me were not about me, but about him.

As a young woman and a student, I expected that my teacher should be encouraging and lift me up and not tear me down.

There will alway be people who don’t live up to our expectations. 

Forgiveness: To cancel a debt.

I was very intrigued by this definition.

It made sense.

When we hold onto unforgiveness towards someone, we in essence are assigning a debt to them—one they can never repay unless we feel fully recompensed. We keep a tally of the wrongs and assign a value to them that cannot be paid back until our feelings have been justified. Our flesh screams “payback”, but our souls cry out for reconciliation.

How do we handle the turmoil that brews inside of us?

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.” 1 Corinthians 12:4-5 NIV (emphasis mine)

Love is the key.

God tells us to love our neighbor, whether they disappoint us or not.

I could have held a grudge against this guy for the way he responded to me.

Fortunately, I didn’t have to see him again. But that is not always the case.

There are people in our lives that we see on a regular basis that continue to disappoint us. When we keep a tally of wrongs against them, we haven’t really forgiven them. I remember asking one of our pastors how to overcome a disappointment or hurt.

His response was pray for them.

Every single time you think of them or the situation pray for them.

Pray for them until that feeling of unforgiveness goes away

Depending on the offense, it may take awhile.

There have been people in my life that I’ve had to constantly lay down before the Lord.  But the more I prayed for the person and really sought God’s truth about the relationship, the easier it was for me to do it the next time. 

Forgiveness doesn’t mean to forget.

There are some hurts that are too deep to brush off. But making an effort to forgive will not only bring healing to the relationship, but also to ourselves. 

Has disappointment taken root in your soul because of a past or recent hurt? I encourage you today to not just sit back and let disappointment take over, but to control your thoughts, set realistic expectations and forgive. As you begin the process, God will meet you where you are and begin to heal those broken places.

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Источник: //flourishingtoday.com/disappointment/