PIVOT! 🙌
Mar 16, 2026
Disappointment is one of those emotions we need to talk about more, because it happens dAliya — at every age and stage of life.
It’s one of the most challenging parts of being human: wanting and expecting A… and then B happens.
Often in a flash.
Often without warning.
And very often without the skills we need to deal with it.
Okk, so therefore… we have no choice! We need to learn more about Disappointment:
Disappointment is a type of grief. It’s the loss of an experience, an expectation, a reality.
And the reason it hits so hard isn’t because we’re dramatic — it’s because disappointment often presents as an emotional cocktail: grief + shock + fear + anger + “wait, WHAT?” And “OMG” and “Nooooo!” And “Now What?!” all mixed together.
Our brains treat hope like an actual plan.
So when we’ve been looking forward to something, or expecting something, our mind doesn’t just want it, it starts organizing around it. We picture it. We prepare for it. We emotionally live it.
Which means when it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t just feel like “oh well.”
It feels like losing something you already owned.
Interesting, no?
Let’s learn more- especiallyyy with the infamous day of Feb. 15th coming up. (Yes, Sem Acceptance Day.) Gulp. 
(Good luck to all the 12th graders.) (Actually, more good luck to all the mothers.) (And teachers.)
I’ve often heard people say (read: myself lol),
“OK, I can deal with the disappointment… but now I also need to deal with my new reality of… (fill in your own blank!)”
And that line is everything.
Because disappointment isn’t only about the loss.
It also requires us to do something different, often new or scary, and to shift our mindset … meaning 
:
To Pivot!
We’re being forced to build Plan B while we’re still emotionally living inside Plan A.
So really disappointment requires two major life skills — and neither one is easy:
- Grieving the loss.
- Learning how to pivot.
Pivoting is precisely the skill that we need to teach ourselves and our children… we should all be sick of the word “pivot!” because we should be saying it so often. (Yes, I remember that scene… IYKYK!)
The better we get at pivoting in general, the safer life will feel.
Because we must remember: Plan A isn’t the only plan. (Even though we were VERY attached to it.)
Sending strength to pivot and tight hugs for whatever disappointments may come our way,
,
Shifi
