PR Girl’s Guide: How to Deal with Disappointment

Life is hard. Dealing with the ups and downs can be exhausting. Disappointments, whether within your control or not, are the cherry on the top.

It’s easy to let disappointments and minor set-backs take on a life of their own, and find yourself in a world of hurt. Handling disappointments with style and grace is no accident, it is a learned skill. Here are a few of my do’s and don’t of dealing with disappointments.

Do

Start a New Project
Men and women handle emotions differently. Typically (and without making too much of a blanket statement) women want to talk it out, while guys do things to distract themselves. Try it. Plunge head first into something completely new. That crafty project on Pinterest you’ve been dying to start? Get your butt to the craft store.

Call Your Best Friend
Ok so maybe starting that new project isn’t in the cards. Grab your cell phone and get some instant positivity from your bestie. Don’t have a best friend on speed dial? Moms are pretty great at this too.

Write It Out
I’ve never been good at journaling. But my college roommate Cody would write in her journal every night. She said it helped her reflect, and see things from a new perspective. Often she would read back in her journal and laugh at situations she took too seriously, or ones where she ignored her intuition.

Sigh and Move On.
These are words directly from my boss. There are two big ideas living in this little sentence. The first is – don’t over react or lash out, you’ll risk burning bridges. Second, is move on. There’s nothing worse than letting disappointment get in your way of something better. Get back out there!

Don’t

Tweet It / Facebook Rage 
Whoops. We’ve all done it. Posted on a social network in the heat of the moment, and almost instantly regretted it. Resist the urge, the feeling will pass. Want to write something really sassy? Put it in your journal or Google Doc dedicated to raging.

Get Too Negative
I’m a firm believer that things happen for a reason. As cliche as it sounds, there might be something just around that corner that is even bigger and better than what just went down. Try not to get down on yourself, by keeping it in perspective and knowing that something awesome is on it’s way.

What are your tips for dealing with disappointment? Let us know on our Facebook page!

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Undergrad Success thanks MadGirlPR for this article!