With social media and everyone’s highlight reel of their life on full blast, it can be hard to admit not being happy with a situation or a season of your life. I can think of countless times where I have put on a fake smile when I was let down by something and spun it into a positive. Now, I’m not saying that being optimistic is a bad thing, but our society is really good at shutting down people’s feelings and pretending that everything is okay, when sometimes it’s okay to admit that you are disappointed and something didn’t work out the way you wanted.
Being disappointed and admitting what’s wrong is being honest. It’s telling the world and yourself that not everything is perfect, but that’s okay and it is only going to make you stronger and better prepared for life’s next challenge. It is being realistic and putting you in a better position to critically evaluate what went wrong and how you can improve in the future.
It is also telling your friends and family that it is okay for them to admit when something is upsetting; which is something we need more of in the world. A time I remember when this happened in my life is when my friend got called on a LDS Mission. She desperately wanted an international one but unfortunately got called to California. Unlike many of my other friends who got called to a mission that may not have been exactly what they wanted, she admitted to being disappointed. This was so refreshing for me to see someone be honest with her situation, particularly in an area where it is taboo to do so. It set her up to have a clear mindset and in the end, she loved where her mission was and loved that she had an honest experience and transformation of thinking.
Watching her go through this inspired me to try and be honest about how I felt, regardless of worrying about what others would think. If I don’t do well on a test and my friends ask me about it, I’ll tell them it went okay. If I go on vacation and don’t really like the place I visited, I try to be honest and tell myself that it’s okay to be a little disappointed. This has changed my perspective on everything and made my life more colorful. It has also made my relationships stronger and more genuine.
I would encourage you to let yourself be disappointed and let yourself be vocal about it. Be real, be genuine and watch your life flourish because of it.