To Cope With Disappointment, Implement 8 Practices!

Most people experience disappointments at some point in their lives, but few know how to deal with them effectively. It can be difficult to cope with disappointment because it feels like overwhelming sadness and/or failure. When you’re stuck in a rut, these reminders can help change your mindset so that you don’t become too concerned by disappointments when they occur.

• Know how you’ll respond. Understanding how you respond to disappointment allows you to prepare yourself for what might come next. If you have trouble coping with disappointment, you need to learn ahead of time how to manage those feelings before they affect you negatively. Not sure how? Pick up a book on how to handle disappointments or talk to someone who has been through similar experiences. Either way, you’ll better yourself and develop healthy coping skills so that when disappoints come, and they will, you can quickly focus on the situation and work towards moving forward.
• Accept disappointments happen. Disappointments are an inevitable part of life and it’s a good thing to be able to recognize them when they do. Accept the fact that you will feel disappointed from time to time, the key is not to let disappointment become your identity. If you allow yourself to get too caught up in disappointment, you can start to believe that you are never going to succeed at anything. You may even begin to think that you are destined for failure. This is a very dangerous place to put yourself.
• Take action. After you accept that disappointments happen, you must then decide whether or not you want to act upon them. Do you want to give up? Or do you want to keep trying until you succeed? There’s no one answer to this question, but if you choose to continue trying, there are several ways you can move forward. if you keep trying, you’ll eventually find the solution that works best for you.
• Focus forward. You are not a failure, you just have to learn from your mistakes and move forward. Dwelling on the past only serves to make us feel worse about ourselves and our future. Instead, take steps immediately to deal with the disappointment. Don’t let yourself get stuck in a negative spiral by dwelling on what went wrong or thinking about all the things that could have gone differently. Instead, focus on the present moment and your future goals.
• Control your emotions. Uncontrolled disappointments can lead to angry feelings, frustrations, and other negative emotional states. These emotional states can make you act rashly towards others or yourself. When faced with overwhelming disappointments, take a moment to think about what you’re doing and how it might affect others. Do you really want to hurt someone else? Can you find a better way to handle the problem? Be responsible for your own actions; if you do something wrong, accept full blame for your mistakes.
• Forgive yourself and others. Forgiveness is the key to peace of mind. The more we practice forgiveness, the easier it becomes. Forgive yourself for past mistakes and failures. Forgive others for their mistakes and failures. It takes courage to forgive another person, but it also gives us the strength to face our own weaknesses.
• Look at your situation objectively. Disappointment can often lead us to believe that things aren’t working out for us. However, if we’re able to put aside our feelings of disappointment and focus on what truly does matter, then we’ll find ourselves feeling better about life. In order to do so, we must learn how to recognize the difference between what’s important and what’s not.
• Trust God. Your life has a purpose and God wants you to accomplish this. Remember that even though we may feel disappointed, we still can have hope. When you trust God, you can rest on the fact that He will do what is best for your life. Disappointments and failures are inevitable in this world. But if you learn to trust God and let Him work through you, you will be able to overcome any disappointment or failure.

Get Support From A Mental Health Professional

If you or someone close to you is experiencing emotional pain from disappointments, please know that help is available. Even if it seems impossible, emotional pain from disappointments is temporary and there are ways to cope with it.

The staff at New Heights Counseling & Consulting, LLC wants you to know, that we’re here for you. Pick up the phone and call (850) 757.1552 to schedule an appointment with one of our professional therapists who specialize in helping individuals overcome disappointments. Read the staff’s biographies on our website at meet our team. At New Heights, we’ll help you get back to living a healthier, happier life. We’re here for you every step of the way.

Additional Resources:

Dealing with Disappointment Harvard Business Review

Dealing with Disappointment in Life, Psychology Today

How to Cope with Disappointment, PsychCentral.com

Other Mental Health Services At New Heights Counseling

The staff at New Heights Counseling provides both individual sessions and couples therapy, not only for emotional disappointment but for a wide variety of mental health concerns and mental disorders. Our services are for children, adolescents, and adults and we offer in-person sessions at our Fort Walton Beach, FL location and online therapy for the state of Florida and Virginia.

Our office is located on the 2nd floor of WorkSpace Suites at 1992 Lewis Turner Blvd, Suite 1057, Fort Walton Beach, FL 32547. Get directions to our office from Google Maps or visit our office location webpage. Our office hours are Monday through Friday, 8 AM to 4 PM. Call (850)757-1552

About the Author:

Founder & Clinical Director of New Heights Counseling, Colleen Wenner is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor. In addition, Colleen is a qualified supervisor in the state of FL. and an EMDR trauma-certified practitioner and consultant in training. She is also licensed to provide professional counseling in the State of Virginia. Colleen is dedicated to her clients’ care and services the Fort Walton Beach, Crestview, Niceville, Destin, and surrounding communities.

Colleen has always been an advocate for mental illness and she has devoted her life to helping others understand these conditions better. She has been featured on a variety of podcasts such as Practice of the Practice (The #1 Podcast for counselors in private practice), Shrink Think Podcast, and The Salty Christan Podcast to name a few. Colleen helps clients understand themselves better by using compassionate and authentic communication. She helps them feel confident about their abilities to change their lives.