I’m guessing you’re thinking at this time that I’m a big bummer. Two posts in a row about disappointment! I spend a lot of time being playful and fun. In my therapy practice however, I’ve been described as the ‘standard bearer of reality’. As such, I’ll spell out one of my central beliefs right meow: Half of life is loss. Let me make that perfectly clear:
Half of life is loss
Everything that comes into your life – every ability, every relationship, every single thing that is part of your life you will eventually lose – including your life. Anyone with a person in their life near the end of their life knows this well. Your ability to walk? That’s going to go. How about retaining the feces that’s inside of you? Sorry. You shit yourself as a child and you’ll likely do it again.
Oh what wonderful thoughts
So, if half of life is loss, you’re going to be disappointed. Our reactions to disappointment seem to be for the most part, grief reactions: Sadness, anger, bargaining and sometime acceptance. Grief, when listened to carefully changes us. Learning to grieve is learning to live.
Nobody’s perfect
Perfection is a myth that’s unreachable. For some of you out there this reality must be disappointing. With no perfect person, the people we relate to will let us down. They will disappoint us. We’ll do the same to others. It’s happened our whole lives. How have these disappointments impacted how you relate to people? How has this impacted how you relate to your colleagues, your friends and those you love?
Gestalt Nova Scotia 