Three Important Things to Consider When You Face Great Disappointment

by Beth K. Vogt @BethVogt

If you’re feeling anything like me, this year has gone by more quickly than you expected. 

You may be someone who celebrates the arrival of fall by cheerfully unpacking your sweaters and baking all things pumpkin. Even as you do, you’re marveling at the fast spin of the seasons.

October is here. In 31 short days, November will be knocking our doors, and then December will be fa-la-la-la-la-ing, which means we’ll be prepping our 2023 calendars.

As we wind down one year and start to ponder a new one, we can’t help but glance over our shoulders and think about all we’ve accomplished and all the things we wanted to accomplish but didn’t. It happens every year. 

When I look back over my shoulder, there’s something staring right back at me, unblinking.

The Great Disappointment of 2022.

I’m not going into specific details of The Great Disappointment of 2022 because, odds are, when you look over your shoulder, you’ve got your own Great Disappointment staring back at you.

It’s not the “what” that makes the difference when it comes to Great Disappointments—it’s the “what do we do about them.”

A bit of brutal honesty: There are days when The Great Disappointment of 2022 has gotten the best of me. It’s ruled the day—too many of them. And that’s why I’m writing this blog post—because I don’t want The Great Disappointment of 2022 to have the last say on this year.

How do we break the stare down with a Great Disappointment, forcing it to blink so we can claim the victory?

Consider these three things when facing disappointment:

1. Put Your Oxygen Mask on First. You’ve heard the spiel every time you travel on an airplane: In the case of an emergency, put on your oxygen mask first before assisting someone else, like your small child. Why do flight attendants tell us this? Because it’s our nature to help others first—except for the most cold-hearted person, of course, who’d probably grab everyone else’s masks and huddle in a seat, sucking everyone’s oxygen. To finish well, take care of yourself. Your Great Disappointment has worn you down, so now is the time to recharge yourself, mentally, physically, and spiritually. Rest is good. Listening to praise and worship music is good. Walking outside is good. Example: I dictated the bulk of this post while I took a walk around my neighborhood. 

2. Find things to be grateful for each day. A little gratitude can eventually outweigh a Great Disappointment. I wrote those words and I’m believing them. I choose One Word to focus on each year instead of writing a list of resolutions. The word “gratitude” was the first word I focused on back in 2006, the first year I focused on One Word. Doing so changed my glass half-empty perspective. I choose to believe seeking reasons to be thankful can conquer the Great Disappointment of 2022 by refocusing my attention away from discouragement and doubt.

3. Don’t Let the Great Disappointment have the Final Say. A good friend of mine is a counselor. I call him “Wise Guy,” because he is wise in the Word. He once challenged me, asking me if I wanted something that had occurred in my life to be the defining moment of my life or just a moment in my life. I’ve wrestled with the reality that I can’t fix the Great Disappointment. What I can do is hand the situation over to God—again and again—and ask Him for His perspective. 

One final thought: If there’s no Great Disappointment of 2022 for you, I’m so thankful. Consider sharing this post with a family member or friend who needs to read it.

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Three Important Things to Consider When You Face Great Disappointment, insight from author @BethVogt on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)

Beth K. Vogt believes God’s best often waits behind the doors marked “Never.” Having authored nine contemporary romance novels and novellas, The Best We’ve Been, the final book in Beth’s Thatcher Sisters Series with Tyndale House Publishers, releasers May 2020. Other books in the women’s fiction series include Things I Never Told You, which won the 2019 AWSA Award for Contemporary Novel of the Year, and Moments We Forget. Beth is a 2016 Christy Award winner, a 2016 ACFW Carol Award winner, and a 2015 RITA® finalist. An established magazine writer and former editor of the leadership magazine for MOPS International, Beth blogs for Learn How to Write a Novel and The Write Conversation and also enjoys speaking to writers group and mentoring other writers. Visit Beth at bethvogt.com.

Featured Image: Photo by Jefferson Santos on Unsplash