THREE TOOLS TO HELP YOU NAVIGATE A DEEP DISAPPOINTMENT

“Disappointment is the bridge between expectations and reality. Learn to cross it gracefully, for it leads to personal growth and wisdom.” -Dalai Lama

- WRITTEN BY SHERRY PARKS

I recently had a disappointment that felt deeper and more impactful than I ever would have thought. I'd reconnected with an old boyfriend online and we had been chatting off and on for a year. He recently came to my town for business and asked if I'd be open to meeting up in person.

We had a lot of talks about what this means and while both of us didn’t want to renew a boyfriend/girlfriend type of relationship, we still thought there was merit in meeting to see what might occur.

I was nervous about the meeting because I’m no longer the young 20-something I was when we knew each other before. And I was still super excited to see him and spend time with him.

He arrived in town as planned and we chatted a few times. Two days before we were to officially meet, he randomly texted and invited me to dinner. I said yes, and we went to dinner.

It was nothing but a couple of hours of chatting and eating dinner. At the end of the evening, he said he’d see me in two days. Randomly, though, I felt like something was off. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but it didn’t feel good to me.

And then two days later in the afternoon, he texted that he had to leave unexpectedly due to his employer requesting it.

That was it, no further explanation. The disappointment hit me like a ton of bricks. I immediately felt all the things.

• He decided I wasn’t good enough.

• He was leading me on the whole time.

• He didn’t like the changes in my face and body.