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Disappointment.
The underlying theme for disappointment is unmet expectations. How true is that when you really think about it? When I’m disappointed in myself, I am usually left questioning, “What did I do wrong? How could I have done better?” When I’m disappointed in someone else, I’m usually left wondering, “If he would only…” 🙄 It’s harder for me to be disappointed in other people than it is to be disappointed in myself. At least when I haven’t met my own expectations, I can reflect to see if I laid my head and my heart on the line (logic and emotion). If I didn’t, I know to do better and can take steps toward improvement. Other people, well…it seems a lot of other people…
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Transformation.
Do you ever go through periods of life where you feel God working within you? What this looks like may be different for each of us, but for me, I feel uneasy, restless, and emotional, yet hopeful, motivated, and inspired. I recognize these feelings when they appear and know that I am going through a transformational change. In most change models, we create a picture of what we think the solution should be, then work hard to make reality fit that picture. We try to dominate the situation. I have a friend who is super Type A, logical, and analytical. This would be his approach to change. You create a…
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Empathy.
I have a colleague that made a big mistake. Because of our roles and responsibilities within the company, I had to pick up the pieces of his fall-out. And I. was. pissed. about it. 😤 His poor judgment caused me additional stress and hours more of work. I made damn sure he knew all that I had to do to cover his ass. If I had to swoop in and rescue him, he was going to learn a lesson out of it. Now, he’s normally pretty up-to-snuff. After the dust settled a bit, I asked him how he was doing. Turns out, he took his mistake pretty hard. He felt terrible about it, guilty, and embarrassed. Additionally, he was going through a…
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Happiness.
Philosophers caution against focusing on happiness as the ultimate good in life, and I tend to agree. Happiness is subjective; it’s not a constant. I think we’ve put happiness on this unobtainable pedestal. It’s something that we haven’t actually defined for ourselves as individuals, and we strive for an unrealistic, curated ideal (however it is we perceive that ideal). Basically, we really don’t even know what we are searching for. What we talk about in our culture as happiness is really kind of a revved-up version of happiness. It’s a high-energy [state] — scientists call it a high-arousal positive affect. It’s a feeling, it’s transient, it’s not quality of life, it’s not so…
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Trust.
I once saw a meme that said, “Dating is getting to know someone until you realize you don’t like that person anymore.” I mean, how true is that statement though? 😬 It’s kind of sad when you really think about it. You invest time, energy, and emotion in someone until you ultimately discover that person is not worth your time, energy, and emotion. There are a lot of great things about being single, don’t get me wrong. The freedom is undeniably one of the best aspects of it. But the dating part is hard. First, choosing the person you want to date. Not just anyone will set off the “cascade of hormones and…
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Appreciation.
Life has been an uphill climb lately. And yeah, I’ve been complaining. It’s natural, right? 😬 But I also recognize that you don’t reach a peak of the mountain without first walking through the valley. For the past 4 months, it has literally been one thing after another, and it’s taken me on an emotional roller coaster. There have been essentially 7 significant events that have each taken me down a notch (or several). While I’ve been able to lean on people who care about me for support, there is still something missing that’s left me feeling unfulfilled. So, I’ve been doing what I do: completely analyzing these situations to find the root of what has…