Reacting to disappointments

How we react to disappointments in our daily lives says a lot about how mentally healthy we are. Do we accept them as clouds with silver linings or do we fret, nag, feel depressed, or blame others. Are we able to glean truths from them that will be lessons for tomorrow, or are we so dense that we believe we are always right.

Naturally we’re depressed and downsized when disaster strikes and it’s hard to be pleasant about much of anything, but for sanity’s sake we must believe there’s a reason behind these that’s beyond our understanding. That is not the point we want to make here, but first a moment of silence for the Joplin, Missouri disaster victims and their families. (++++++++++++)

Accepting everything that comes our way without getting too steamed up over success or failure goes a long way in creating balances in our lives. And balance is what mental health is all about. Did not the Creator program our life that way? Day and night, warm and cold, high and low, good and bad, are part of our existence, and so is happy and sad, joy and heartbreak, knowledge and ignorance and so on the teeter-totter of life goes.

Why this subject today? I am a writer and recently I wrote an article I was extremely proud of having written. And yes, I was aware that it might meet with a few raised eyebrows, but I believed in my words and I forged ahead, believing it would be accepted by the editors. Well it didn’t go over well. I was asked to rewrite and not to editorialize so much.

How did I accept it? I was disappointed but I reread the article and I decided to leave it as it is. I absolutely have no interest in making it more professional! It deserves better than its designated first time out venture, I told myself. I told myself that while at the same time I knew I could be wrong. But overall I understood the matter to be of small importance.

You win some and you lose some! I give that only as an example of how to accept these daily little annoyances ¬— and that’s all they are — and not let them take up more of your precious time than they deserve.