Disillusionment: Five Ways to Beat It

My good friend lost her dream job, her boyfriend, and had a near-death experience all in the course of one month.  And her bad luck is still continuing; she’s like the poster child for Job.  Being a glass half-full type, she has coped amazingly well.  Still, the losses are soul-numbing and I find myself thinking a lot about how to successfully deal with disillusionment.

I gave her great advice on how to beat it:

1.      Drink more.

2.      Take drugs.

3.      Kill someone.

4.      Crawl in bed and don’t come out.

5.      Lose your faith so you won’t keep wondering why God hates you.

photobucket.com/albums/i285/allixpeeke/?action=view&current=romanticdisillusionment.

Ok, I didn’t really say all that, but I really wanted to.  When your dreams and your peeps and your health all take a nose-dive at once, I’d have to say that disillusionment is the only respectable response.

You might be having thoughts about karmic payback, but I’m telling ya, this is a sweet lady who does good things.  I’ve had similar catastrophes in my own life, but never unrelenting and all at once.  It kind of gives you pause.

My friend has taught me a few things about dealing with disillusionment.  I did promise you five ways to beat it (that weren’t cheeky), so here goes:

1.   Get angry and express it safely.  If you missed my blog on how to   consciously complain, you can read it here.

2.   Retreat.  Pull back and give yourself some alone time.  Skip the shower, wear sweats, and put out the “Not welcome!” sign for a weekend, or even longer.  Indulge yourself and shut the world out.

3.   Oversleep.  I mean, if life sucks, you might as well be unconscious as much as possible.

4.   Accept what is happening to you as you are able.  It is a process, not a contest.

5.   Find a new passion/purpose if you can’t recover what you’ve lost.  Repeat mantras as often as necessary: “It’ll all be ok in the end.  If it not’s ok, it’s not the end.” “Don’t let the bastards get you down.” “Que sera, sera.”  You get the picture.  But you have to embrace the platitudes.  If you don’t like these, feel free to speak your own.

http://media.photobucket.com/image/disappointment/mrstrentreznor

       Disillusionment is, usually, temporary.  We get mad, we retreat, we eventually accept what has happened, and we move on.

       If you’ve come up with any creative ways of your own to shove aside disillusionment, please share them in the comments.  We’ll all need them sooner or later.  And thanks for reading, ya'll!

Marianne M. Smith
Writer At The Ranch
Making You Look Brilliant One Word At A Time
http://writerattheranch.com
wordsmith@writerattheranch.com