Moving Through Disappointments

Human nature and history focuses around one thing: mistakes. We soar high, plummet into the ground, and get back up and try again. As decades pass, we seek to be better than our predecessors, to learn from the blunders they made. When I was younger, failure was the most terrifying thing I could experience. I never thought I should ever make mistakes or mess up. A small mistake? Stupid. Is it 100%? No? Stupid, disgusting, terrible, negligent, ignorant. I lived in a black and white world where anything other than perfect was bad, where I had to be the best at anything; a machine. So where did that put me? What did that ideology do to me? When I look back, I realize how unhealthy that mindset was. I recognized the miles of pain it caused me, how much it hurt me then, and how it affects me now. Although there are many mistakes that I’ve made, the biggest one I’ve ever made was not accepting

Everyone is born into this world with a sense of innocence, completely oblivious to the cruelties of the world. However, as humans grow up and reach early- adulthood, they begin to realize the realities of this world, all that is real and all that is, in fact, a figment of the imagination. As people learn that it is truly impossible to stay hidden from the harsh realities of adulthood for their entire life, they also learn that it is impossible to shield others from these truths as well. They learn that although they may not be able to protect themselves from life’s misfortunes, they must perceiver, move forward, and not hold anyone back in their tracks. Just as all humans eventually learn to accept and move past life’s various misfortunes,

People are challenged with many of life’s obstacles every day leaving them emotionally damaged and left feeling helpless. How one copes with these feelings depends on how he/she was raised in terms of solving problems. Success must occur in physical, social, emotional, moral, and intellectual aspects in order for one to achieve his/her full potential. Through the deprivation of emotional and social support in one’s early years, levels of self-esteem are lowered; one is then prevented from achieving his/her full potential. Over time, the accumulation of traumatic experiences can lead an individual to overwhelming guilt and depression; this unhealthy state of mind contributes to lower self-esteem. In order to reach one’s full potential, he/she must meet every need leading up to self-actualization; lacking self-confidence prohibits a person from becoming the best version of his/herself. Richard Wagamese’s Medicine Walk explores how childhood experiences and relationships, whether positive or negative, fundamentally shape an individual; later on in one’s life, healing may allow relationships to be mended, allowing people to become better versions of themselves.

I stumbled through the first thirty-eight years of life attempting to mask the hurts caused by myself and others. I was my own worst critic fueled by raging addictions and chaos; searching to find a perfection that could never be achieved. Life was a hurricane of madness and at the center of that storm was the Father waiting for me to give Him my whole heart. The purpose of this paper is to show through those who have been studied, the textbooks that have been read and my own opinions; the counseling methods and

Some moments that ones have to experience can be traumatizing and harmful to the person's mind. These can affect one's actions and display signs of fear. Running away from these issues may have positive short-term effects, but as shown in Smoke Signals conquering the fear can have a much more superior effect on the mind. Sometimes condoning the issue can help one feel free and stable. Fearing one’s own past is something that should be avoided. This is a universal theme for the reason that all people have to deal with disturbing memories to some

Life is an ever-changing reaction to the different situations that we are exposed to. Sometimes these opportunities for change are forced upon you, such as requirements at work, at home, or at school. Other times these changes are brought on by your reflection of things that have happened in the past.

Like all kids my age, I’ve dreamed of success. I always subconsciously wanted to be known or be recognized for something. However, it was clear that I set up my life in a way that was inconceivable. My daily behavior revolved around apprehension. But, after reading this book, I reevaluated my attitude toward life. I didn’t have an immediate revelation, but it was clear that my personality was formed solely by negativity. In my mind, I was just a teenager “being myself,” but this was not going to give me the fulfillment that I envisioned. Deep down, I wanted to explore. I wanted to see new places and meet new people. However, I was set up as someone that will have a life that would be dictated by the fear of uncertainty. After this realization, it was clear I had two

There are many experiences that one encounters in his or her lifetime, but only a few of these experiences are significant enough to leave an impact on our lives. It is safe to say that these experiences help shape us to be the person we are today. With these experiences, along with how we are raised, is what leads to our development as an individual; cognitively, emotionally, and spiritually and how we view the world and ourselves. These experiences leave a lasting impression, and we refer back to them when faced with difficult situations. Whether these experiences are good or bad can change the makeup of our identity, and internal perceptions.

In one’s life, events happen every day. At times these events can be good, getting one’s license, birthdays, the birth of first child, but other times they are bad, death of a loved one, tragic accident, or getting a bad grad on a test. The good and happy feeling events are the ones that people would like to remember the most and the bad ones are the ones that people try to forget about. Unfortunately, the worst events are the ones that stick in one’s mind and continue to come back up. Throughout “I’m Just Getting to the Disturbing Part,” Church shows that the past does not always stay there; sometimes past thoughts, memories, or even events can come back to the surface and it can be hard to get over them.

Eleanor Roosevelt believes that “people grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built.” The experiences individuals are faced with are innumerable, and although some may seem futile, these encounters each have their importance into developing an individual’s identity. Every experience provides a diverse amount of possible consequences that have the potential to initiate a drastic change in the individual’s character. With each new experience an individual is faced with, they must learn to adjust accordingly to the particular situation and endeavour to acquire new knowledge from this experience in order to grow and develop as a person.

Because of my early life, I am being stretched between two sides of thought. One side of my thinking tells me that I have brought myself out of my past circumstances and that my new worries are not worth my time. This thought process is problematic because it denies me the power of being upset about things that are upsetting. The other

Change is a notion often belittled when compared to familiarity. Change is known to bring disappointment and great loss. Whereas familiarity is dependable and safe. Although one would not long for a change in comfort, it is, in fact, necessary to succeed in finding one’s true self. For it is through change that one’s true motives are discovered.

Looking backing on childhood filled with so many memories, I wish I could say they all had that warm and fuzzy feeling. Being one of seven siblings wasn’t easy, in fact each and every sibling had to make some type of sacrifice for our family. I have a sister, she is the second oldest, who is a diagnosed schizophrenic. Having a mentally ill sister who was never complaint with any type of treatment made childhood especially difficult and set up many opportunities for disappointment. Disappointment came in many forms throughout my childhood whether it was not being able to go somewhere, being forgot about, or the constant embarrassment and anger I had to deal with internally on a daily basis.

As Emerson perceived the world, “Man postpones or remembers; he does not live in the present, but with reverted eye laments the past, or, heedless of the riches that surround him, stands on tiptoes to foresee the future. He cannot be happy and strong until he too lives with nature in the present, above time” (“Self-Reliance” 833-834). Even if a man finds himself with both self-trust and originality, he may never realize his true potential if he is preoccupied with past events or future fortunes. Emerson finds these obsessions to be utterly useless: “Discontent is the want of self-reliance; it is the infirmity of will. Regret calamities, if you can thereby help the sufferer; if not, attend to your own work, and already the evil begins to be repaired” (838). In contemporary society, a willingness to “live in the moment” is highly regarded, especially among youth, yet this acceptance seems to wane with age. Nevertheless, excessive anxiousness and nostalgia are a waste of the potential that can be realized when the truths of the present are

     There is not one person alive who has not encountered a less than desirable situation in life. Nobody is flawless and everyone has made at least one mistake that they wish they could take back. However, a problem many encounter is they worsen these mistakes by lingering on them instead of learning from them. They worry that others may see them as less than they really are and that they are inadequate because they are not perfect. Albert Ellis, the creator of RET, says people, “upset themselves about their seriousness upsetness. In fact, they may have biological tendencies that encourage them to make a ‘magical’…jump from ‘I badly failed’ to ‘I am a failure-a bad person!’”.