Disappointment

So how do you prevent disappointment?  Is it inevitable?  Can you lessen the effects?

In light of our recent snowboarding incident, I have been thinking about expectations and the effects of being hopeful.  My son is so disappointed about being unable to board at club this season that I have to think how I can lessen the pain in the future.

I may think that the less you expect, the less disappointed you will be.  On one hand, low expectations could result in pleasant surprises. Like the time you are hopeful to retain your job in this poor economy, only to find that you are getting a significant raise. On the other hand, if your expectations are low you may not get the pleasure of anticipation.  Planning a vacation is a perfect example.  You review sites and schedule daily activities and count down to the flight.  Half the fun is thinking about how great it will be when you get there.

Then again if you expect too much you are constantly setting yourself up for disappointment.  Possibly living your life in the future instead of the present.  If you are expecting an amazing time at a New Year's Eve party and it is pretty lame, you are disappointed.  If you expected nothing, just the fact of seeing friends and counting down to 2010 would be enough.

It's not an absolute I am sure, but disappointment is a fact of life and a positive growing experience.  So instead of figuring out how to prevent it, I think I will teach my son how to recover from it.  At least he had the past 7 months to think about how terrific the snow season would be and I am sure that shook him out of some misery during the past year.