Last weekend, my executive producer and I went to see the much-hyped romantic comedy "Valentine's Day."
It's the flick with all the big name stars like Jamie Foxx, Jessica Biel, Ashton Kutcher, Jennifer Garner....the list goes on.
With an A-list cast like that one, we're thinking the movie has to be pretty good!
But herein lies one of the tragedies (dramatic word yes, but appropriate) of working in television:
You never watch TV or movies the same way again.
You just can't.
Your eye is more discerning, your judgments are harsher.
You're psyche is indefinitely robbed of the joy once known as watching TV or movies like a "regular person."
About halfway through the movie, we realized things were not turning out well.
Our desire to be entertained was overshadowed by scenes that were out of place, and dialog that contradicted itself in earlier
parts of the movie.
In short, we left the theater disappointed.
It got me to thinking about how often things in life disappoint us.
Movies disappoint us.
Jobs disappoint us.
People disappoint us.
Is it that we give them the power to do so?
Or is it beyond our control?
A good friend told me that the way you deal with disappointment is really an issue of mind over matter.
No, sometimes, it's just matter.
The reality is that movies, and jobs are things we have to sometimes.... well, suffer through.
You can't change a bad script, nor can you rewrite your job title.
But being disappointed by a person is the worst.
Movies, jobs, are inanimate objects.
When disappointment comes in the form of a person who's alive, and breathing,
they instantly become a constant tangible reminder that you've been let down.
Disappointment hurts.
You can't get over it, go around it, you've got to walk through it.
If you've put your trust in a family member, friend or lover and they disappoint you, then you know, there is no pain like it.
Perhaps it's difficult to endure because it shines a light on ourselves.
Sometimes it highlights the careless faith you hastily put in other people, without knowing if you could trust them for sure.
Or, it brings attention to the fact that you've used poor judgment :
thinking you had aligned yourself with someone who never could hurt you,
or would.
Whatever, or whoever it is that's disappointed you,
release them or it to the universe.
I'm still working on how to live with disappointments.
Step one is learning to forgive myself for blindly trusting, loving and believing.
That is who I am.
Lesson learned.
As a young free-spirited college girl, I'd wait on a person who disappointed me to say the words
"I'm sorry."
Now , I don't wait on the words.
If a person doesn't care enough to say it,
why do I want it?
Sometimes in people, yes, I am perpetually disappointed.
As for bad movies,
the whole idea of being "let down" can be eased rather easily:
I'd like my eight dollars back.
Our desires always disappoint us; for though we meet with something that gives us satisfaction, yet it never thoroughly answers our expectation.
Elbert Hubbard
