How to Overcome Frustration and Disappointment

Are there times when you’ve been working hard to make progress on something or just get it completed, yet despite your best efforts, it just isn’t going well, and you feel frustrated and disappointed about that? 

It can be like you’re running through mud, using up all your energy, but you’re not getting very far at all! 

Experiencing these kinds of disappointments can be really stressful, especially if you are up against a time constraint. 

You can very easily become totally despondent, and then despair creeps in. The good news is, however, that you can get past this. You will get past it, as others have done before you. 

The project that you’ve been working on likely isn’t the issue. Maybe you were in line for a promotion. You thought you would get it but didn’t. Maybe you are trying to explore the possibilities of a completely new career, but after all the effort expended, you still have no idea what kind of new career might be best for you. 

This is just part of life, and pretty much everyone has been in this place before. Some of us have been there many times. When we get in these situations, it’s important to find different ways to move us over, under, around, or through them and not spend too much time dwelling on them. 

To overcome your frustration and disappointment, you only need to spend enough time thinking about your circumstances to get a good handle on the situation. Then, take action and create a change in the way you are seeing it. 

The fastest and most effective way of changing anything is to make a decision and take action. 

Consider these actions that others have done to make a positive difference: 

1. Reframe it. Reframe the situation and it takes on a whole new perspective. View the frustration that you are experiencing as a good thing because frustration means that you are just about to learn something. 

• Look for the lesson. Once you’ve found it, you will never need to go back there again. 

2. Change your routine. Your daily routine has a bigger impact on the way you show up in life than you think. If you find yourself in a mind-set that is not supporting you, change your routine. 

• Go for a run, ride your bike, or go for a walk. Go somewhere different, go in the rain. Get close to nature. Do something exhilarating. 
• Your whole demeanour will change for the better in 60 minutes or less and so will the challenge that you are wrestling with. 

3. Seek encouragement and Inspiration. Who do you know who can inspire you? Encourage you? Share some life wisdom with you? We all have someone we respect, trust, and enjoy talking over difficult situations with. 

• Oftentimes, just explaining the situation can shine a light on a solution or a strategy that can resolve a difficult issue. 

4. Adjust your attitude. It’s not what happens to you, it’s what you do about it that matters. Acknowledge that you are in a place of frustration and disappointment, but also acknowledge that you can and will get past it. Other people have, and so will you. 

• There is nothing that is going to be insurmountable. Start from the viewpoint that there is a solution here, and you will find it. 

5. Be open to new ideas. Getting good at anything is easiest done by learning from other people’s experiences. Always be open to new ideas, different ways of seeing things, additional strategies, and especially new attitudes. 

• More often than not, it’s not the situation or circumstance that is the root of the issue. It’s either the way we are approaching it or the way we are perceiving it. 
• If someone else has a methodology for resolving these issues, don’t reinvent the wheel, but follow in their footsteps. 

6. Expect a positive outcome. If you adopt a perspective of positive expectancy, whereby you know that it doesn’t matter what happens, and you’re absolutely certain that everything will work out perfectly, more often than not, it really does. 

• If you can get this one into your daily affirmations, everything will change for the better. 

Don’t let frustration and disappointment rule over you. Use these tips to get past them and move forward toward the future you want!