Prompt: Disappointment. What was the one disappointment that has turned out to be a blessing in the last 12 months? How will this help you deal with disappointment in the future?
Disappointment
“Everything happens for the best.” I loathe that phrase. You never hear it when something good happens. It only comes bleating around with bad news. I don’t care if the person saying it “knows what you’re going through” or has “been there, done that.” When you JUST get that piece of bad news, the last thing you want to hear is this kind of mealy-mouthed anti-help bull.
And yet. Looking back, I can’t deny that this trite phrase has come true so often I could have bet on it and become a billionaire.
Disappointment: Getting the axe from a company I thought I’d be a lifer in. Thanks, economy.
Mid-point: Contracting with a company using the skills and experience from my old company.
“It Happened For the Best”: Finding my permanent job with my increased skills and experience from the contract jobs.
I would never ever have thought I’d end up where I am now. I could only see as far ahead as the “What do I do now?” refrain when my old boss told me my position had been eliminated and walked me to HR (to his credit, he was all choked up, but then our marketing department was unusually close-knit).
He wasn’t the one who told me that loathsome phrase; a co-worker who had retained her job did that. I knew she meant well. I knew intellectually she had the wisdom to back it up. Emotionally, I was just not willing to accept what I saw as empty words, especially from someone standing in her cube while I was emptying out mine.
I accept them now. Losing my job forced me to expand myself in directions I wouldn’t have in that company. I met wonderful people at the contract company, people who became best friends, people who I still talk to today. Now I’m in a great job with other wonderful people because I took a chance at an opportunity. I didn’t take many chances or opportunities in my old job. I needed to be pushed to grow.
I can’t say I’ll be so enlightened every time something brings my plans to a crashing halt. Even though I can draw a line between then and now, disappointment-to-blessing isn’t generally a linear process.
But I might as well try to skip over the ire, angst and worry, and save my energy for making “the best” happen a little sooner.
And because this is career-related and you may be hovering shy of the mid-point or just got the disappointment, check out 5 Things You Can Do When You Get the Axe, another by-product of my disappointment!
One last quote: “A positive attitude may not solve all of your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.” ~Herm Albright
Author Becky Benishek 
That phrase and “everything happens for a reason” drive me nuts and you are right – it tends to run true but it isn’t what one wants to hear at the time. At the time we just can’t seea/aren’t able to see and maybe it isn’t the right time for us to see through the trees. All we know is that the situation at the time sucks. I tend to look at things now that if it doesn’t pan out or things don’t go my way, it wasn’t mean to be and another door is about to open. Thanks for posting! It’s always HOW we handle disappointment, I think, that matters and you are handling it or looking at it with a great attitude. 😀
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I like that–“maybe it isn’t the right time for us to see through the trees.” I hadn’t thought of it in quite that way. I think you’re right–we can only see so far ahead, especially if we’re overwhelmed with all the “stuff” going on at that exact time. And I’m certainly not knocking a good old wallow. Maybe being aware of the process will help speed things along…intriguing.
Thank you for commenting!
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Sometimes forced expansion of one’s self is incredibly irritating and, yet, it usually results in a growth that was needed. Bravo, you, for being able to see that, in this instance, it was actually for the best. I hate that phrase too. It’s just bloody awful. Never makes me feel better.
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A pox on that phrase, then, and all variants thereof!
Thank YOU so much for your heartening comment.
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You are so much better out of that company. It was never your “lifer” job, it’s a toxic cesspit of the very worst of today’s corporate HR horrors, even if the commute saved you 50 minutes a day. Something new that isn’t there is a good thing. Don’t regret it, revel in the freedom to make all new mistakes!
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