Not forever in green pastures,And I have faced disappointments ever since I was a teen in high school. In March 2007 for instance, I felt so depressed when I was rejected by MIT that I had trouble waking up the following morning. Getting rejected by MIT, my dream university, was a heart-breaking experience.
Do we ask our way to be;
But the steep and rugged pathway,
May we tread rejoicingly.
Then in December 2019, I turned up for the wedding reception of one of my wealthy relatives. My sole motive for going to the wedding reception, which was held in a high-end hotel on the outskirts of Nairobi City, was to know my relatives better. So during the reception, I kept moving from one table to another to greet attendees and chat with them.
My movements must have unsettled the wedding organizers given the way one guard finally came to where I was and called me aside. He then instructed me to remove the bag I was carrying on my back and settle down in one place.
Although the guard spoke to me in a kind tone, his commands wounded my pride so much that I was unable to get out of bed the following day, which was a Sunday. When my eldest brother Joe Kagigite visited us with his family that Sunday, I felt too low in mood to interact with them.
And then yesterday, I was psyched up to travel to Nairobi tomorrow to produce a hymn I have been working on. But when I phoned my music producer, a genial and tech-savvy chap named Sylvester, I was disappointed when he informed me that he will be unavailable for six days since he will be travelling out of Nairobi today.
As you might have realized, one of my main ways of dealing with disappointments has been sleeping. What you may not know is that watching adult films on the internet has been my other way of relieving stress caused by disappointments. But these days, I have matured a lot. I now meditate and turn to God in prayer when faced with setbacks.
Yesterday when I was disappointed by Sylvester's unavailability, I remembered a wise remark I once read that said, "Don't confuse mere inconveniences with real problems." I also remembered a blog story that explained why four-year old kids are always happy; it's because they don't hold on to pain, even when things don't go their way. Remembering those tidbits of knowledge cheered me a little.
Just to cheer myself some more, I imagined that Sylvester will be unavailable tomorrow perhaps because God wants me to meet the woman of dreams on the day I will travel to Nairobi to produce my hymn. Or maybe God is saving me from a road accident that I would have been involved in if I was to travel to Nairobi tomorrow.
Such imaginations, weird though they may seem, comforted me a great deal. And frankly speaking, they form a far much better way of dealing with disappointments than sleeping and watching adult films. I intend to continue dealing with disappointments in such a manner.
While I endeavor to deal with disappointments responsibly, my role model will be my Dad who is now 73 years old. Dad is such a mature and worldly-wise man. Nothing ever seems to faze him. He always gets out of bed every morning regardless of how his previous day was. Even when his phone was stolen one day in 2021 and the thief withdrew all the money in the phone, Dad still woke up the following morning as usual.
My beloved reader, I challenge you to also develop constructive mechanisms of dealing with disappointments. Instead of turning to drugs and alcohol in the face of disappointments, perhaps you can indulge in a hobby or talk to a trusted friend. And don't forget to view disappointments as opportunities for self-mastery since, as the saying goes, "smooth seas don't make skilful sailors". Ciao!
************************
RECOMMENDATION: If you've enjoyed reading the above story on dealing with disappointments, you might also enjoy another one on "A Disappointing Day" which I wrote last year. Just click on that link in blue to dive straight into the story.
