Every human being sets goals in life, dreams of achieving great things. He visualizes in the majority of cases a future with great achievements, perhaps having a family in harmony with respect; love and understanding, maybe graduating in the university with honors; buying a beautiful house and a car, traveling to a dream country, and endless yearnings that nest in his heart.
In this regard, people tend to sacrifice spiritual well-being in order to achieve material rewards and many times without achieving everything that superficially motivates them. This circumstance leads to discouragement, igniting a demotivation that may lead to what we call frustration.
Frustration is a common emotional response related to anger and disappointment that arises from the perception of resistance to the fulfillment of individual will. The greater the obstruction the greater the frustration will probably be.
When we decide to set goals, we must be sincere and realistic with ourselves. There is no point in thinking, for example, of climbing the highest mountain in the world if we suffer from heart failure or being a great singer if we have clogged vocal cords. Common sense should be revealed when we responsibly look or plan to get or achieve a dream.
The fact of measuring our abilities, knowing what our skills and strengths are, and being aware of our weaknesses and limitations, allows us to pose real challenges in life. If we fail to meet the proposed, it is the result of causes outside our will and not for having put challenges that we knew would not be achieved.
When the results of our efforts cause dissatisfaction, anger, sadness, helplessness and, in many cases, depression, we direct our thoughts to frustration. That is an exhausting experience both emotionally, mentally, and physically.
In short, frustration is a deep feeling of dislike usually caused by unsatisfied expectations. It is the bitterness that we manifest when we fail to obtain something or when things do not go as we wish. Frustration comes when expectations have not been met, when the desire was not fulfilled, then the feeling they cause is unpleasant.
Some common cases where feelings of frustration manifests:
In your marriage. When your spouse does not make the behavioral changes you expect and that has been caused for discussion, distrust, or loss of respect for years when this change never comes.
In your children. When one or more of your children behave disrespectfully or unpleasantly with you or others, and does not learn responsibility and respect from early on.
In finance. When your money does not yield what the accounts advocate when debts have you cornered and you do everything possible to get out of them without achieving it.
In your university degree. When you studied for several days, you sacrificed your nights and made every effort to get an outstanding grade and on the day of the exam you cannot answer as you want, then you get frustrated because you know that you will not reach the maximum grade.
In your ventures. When you strive to carry out your business, work or project but things do not go your way, you look for other alternatives and apply all possible business strategies and do not get the expected results.
In your personal life. When you know that this harmful habit is killing you but you still practice it, you get mad at yourself because you know you should leave it but there you go again; you do it again and again.
Some important tips that can help you overcome frustration:
- Recognize that we are all exposed to this experience and that it is not an exclusive situation to your particular circumstance.
- It is necessary to ask ourselves if what causes us frustration is of our own making and, if so, seek to reverse such a situation.
- Learn from frustration; we must look for the teachings that such a situation can leave us.
- Take it with good humor and good stride.
- Do not self-disqualify yourself; instead, count on your blessings.
In sum, frustrations will always be latent in our lives. Although there are no effective ways to avoid them, it is always possible to know how to deal with the situation positively by assuming constructive and not destructive attitudes. If we always look at life with optimism, it will allow us to accept these adverse circumstances in order to seek new alternatives as well as new goals to be achieved.
