I don’t want disappointment to silence us. But that’s what is so often does. Whether for one moment, an hour, weeks, months or years, disappointment disempowers our ability to speak life into our dreams; it silences our hope. Well, at least that’s what my experience has been.
After my disappointment this year in May 2016, realising my Olympic journey was over for the second time in 4 years – this time due to a serious injury- I mourned and declared I would never dream again.
What’s the point of hoping and working tirelessly for something when I am so often disappointed? What’s the point of dreaming anyway? My dreams rarely become a reality.
You see, disappointment is trixy. It silences your hope, optimism and fighting spirit- all the positive parts of your personality- and it opens the floor for the negative, defeatist, pitiful you. It gives negative-you centre stage and then it hands you the mic and says “run with it!”
It is a constant battle for me to wrestle the mic away from negative-me fuelled by disappointment to regain my voice of power fuelled by hope.
Disappointment may disempower and silence you. But hope hangs on hard to help you find your voice of faith again. I believe in God and my faith is the ONLY thing that keeps me going right now. (I love you friends, family and supporters but I love God more; He is my rock and foundation in the midst of this struggle.) My faith also reminds me of this universal truth – ‘The best is yet to come’ if you just keep holding on. Don’t let your disappointment silence you; silence it with faith, the truth that you are loved, and the knowledge that a life without dreams is not one worth living at all.
So how do you defeat disappointment? Keep your dreams alive. Dream new dreams. Hope new hopes. And no matter what, keep the faith.
Here’s what I have faith in for you and I: God knows what He’s doing. All the pain and disappointment will work out eventually for your good if you believe.
Why do I believe this?
Read: Jeremiah 29:11 & John 3:16-18
Where does your hope lie? What keeps you going in the midst of disappointments and major challenges in your life? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. I’d love to read them!
