Dealing with Disappointment
Have you ever been told that you cannot do the one thing that you have always dreamed of doing? It may have been as simple as you wanting to go to Coachella and your parents told you no. Or it may be something bigger, you may have practiced football for years in hopes that you would get a college scholarship, but then you are told you are not good enough. This feeling is earth shattering. You bet your whole life on this one thing, you plan your life around it and when you are told you cannot do it, you are left empty and lost. You had everything planned out and now you do not know where to go or where your life is headed. You feel as though there is nothing left and nothing could be worse than this. It is a surprise to see all of the people who have experienced this feeling in their lives, they once had big plans but were then told they were not good enough.
Now, when a child is told that they are not good enough to do something and that they should stop trying, it ruins their self esteem. Due to this ruined self esteem the child might not ever try for anything big anymore, even though they may have been actually capable of it. I believe that a child or anyone for that matter, should have a chance to try something.
For me, I had big plans, I wanted to be a part of something greater than myself because I wanted my life to mean something to people. I planned my life around this idea that I was going to be able to make it. People told me that I should quit trying or try for something easier; they were my fuel for wanting it even more. I wanted to show these people who told me that I could not that I actually could. I wanted to prove to them that I was better than what they thought I was. I became so determined that I did not plan on it not happening. Then I found out that I was unable to do this because of a silly disability. I can still remember the moment I found out and it felt like my world was crumbling down around me. We think that that feeling only happens in movies, but when it happens to you, you wish it only happened in movies. You cry for a little while but then you go numb, you are now impervious to the pain that you are feeling and you feel as though you are drifting off into nothingness. Nothing compares to the feeling of being lost in a world you once found so familiar.
You may want to spare someone this feeling and that is why you tell them to stop trying. They are never going to make it, but after this feeling has passed, life will get back on track. It will hurt when they think about it and they will remember the way that they felt, but they will think to themselves “Hey! At least I tried”. Trying and not being able to do something is better than the guilt of not trying and wondering if you could have done it, should you have done it, etc. That is where the term “Should’ve, could’ve, would’ve” came from, is it not? And what if one of these children is successful? Whether it be as a child or later, as an adult, the children who have ruined self esteem would have never tried and would never have the chance at being successful. That is why it is important to teach children to try for something, whether they get it or not is a different story, but at least they can say that they tried and they can keep trying if they so desire. The feeling of knowing that you tried it is much better than the feeling of guilt they would have been left with; and this feeling only comes after the possible earth shattering feeling. You cannot have rainbows without rain, right?
Kailynn Miller, is a senior at Blackfoot High School. She has been in Newspaper for 3 years and her initial thoughts are that she enjoys it very much....
