Life Lessons

Valuable Tips On Being A Disappointment From An Expert

But things usually work out for me anyway

They always say to write about what you know. But what if you don’t know anything? What if all you do is make mistakes again and again? What if failure is your only constant?

After much debate, I decided that being a disappointment was clearly my biggest and most constant accolade to date. I have to say this under-appreciated attribute has always come naturally to me. No hard work required. No matter how greatly I do something, it is wrong according to someone in my life. No matter how good of a person I try to be, no good deed of mine goes unpunished.

Don’t worry, this is not a pity party. I have taken the stance that my many, many varied disappointments have made me the funny, bitter, amazing person that I have become. All of my so called biggest life errors have turned out okay in the end. Actually, they have turned out better than ok. They have led me to where I am today. I’m not famous or rich, but I love my life and that means I am successful to me.

Realizing this, I let my fucks go and reflected on how my biggest disasters ended up leading me into a better situation every time.

I got pregnant at 19 years old. My 4 children are amazing, kind, hard working, and responsible. My oldest daughter, with whom I got pregnant with at 19, graduates next March as a registered nurse. I guess a baby raising a baby, which is what they said about me back then, didn’t do such a bad job after all.

I’ve been divorced twice. Now, I’m married to the one I should’ve waited for in the first place. Those decisions ultimately led me to where I am now and I could not appreciate him any more than I do after coming from those situations.

I’ve lost jobs. Each time it happened, I spent nights worrying about how I was going to feed my family. Somehow, I always pulled us through and ended up in a better career position than before.

I’ve lost friends. But, I’ve also gained friends and my life was better off after the friends I thought I would miss left my life.

No joke, my luck is so bad that I was actually awarded a custom certificate for it. The actual award given to me was called The Everything You Touch Turns To Shit award. Hell, sarcasm aside it is still the only real award I’ve ever had printed on letterhead. So, I framed it and mounted it on the wall.

No one believes me when I tell them I have the worst luck on the face of the planet. They all agree that I am overreacting and go on to say that they are the ones that actually have the worst luck on the planet. But, then they spend some time with me and come to realize that I am, in fact, right.

I have come to realize that all those generic platitudes that just pissed me off were actually true. I need less to be happy because I have gone without. I take less and give more. I am a better person for my struggles, although I could not see that at the time.

As long as I’m proud of me, then I’m fine. During a painful moment we can’t see the growth happening, only the pain. But whether we see it or not, with every trial and mistake we make, we grow as humans. We all fall down, but we cannot dwell there forever. Watch how far we can go when we stand back up.

Do not be embarrassed by your mistakes. Nothing can teach us better than our understanding of them. This is one of the best ways of self-education. — Thomas Carlyle