An understated emotion
Now that the dust has settled a bit and we have all got more used to cancellations, postponements and adaptations, it’s time to talk about disappointment. An subtle, insidious, often overlooked emotion, disappointment can be much more powerful than it’s more extroverted companions of anger, pain or grief. It can produce intense feelings, therefore playing a huge role in our day to day decision-making as we work to avoid this discomfort. We’ve all had a taste of it’s bitterness and we use the memories of those feelings to try and prevent future, similarly painful experiences, but how often do we really acknowledge disappointment or take the time to process it? Often, it feels like we are ashamed of it, ready to sweep it away under the carpet and out of our lives. We tend to focus instead on different emotions, like sadness, or try to move boldly on and forget about it altogether. Despite the role this emotion plays in our lives - the actions it provokes, the decisions it help...