Usually, when I get disappointed, I ask myself three questions: 1. Did it not go according to my expectation because of my doing? 2. Is it still fixable? 3. Can I live a happy and authentic life without that expectation being fulfilled? Question one I need to ask myself to determine whether I should berid myself with guilt and blame myself for all the faults in the world, which it of course isn't a lot of the times, question 2 determines whether I can take any action to still convert a disappointment into the next best thing, question 3 determines whether it's worth crying over.
A bad grade can be a hurting disappointment, because I'll blame it on myself, but it's fixable by just doing better on the next test. Getting disappointed with something out of my sphere of influence, like, I dunno, a music album or something that I don't think meets my expectations, or a bad pokémon design I wish was done better, really really score low on the severity scale. It's not according to my doing, it's not really fixable, but there's always the next best thing to come, and it's not really something that's going to impede me from my self-development.
Then there are the severe disappointments, whether they are by my doing or not, these are the kinds that for question 3 hold the answer no. Maybe they're fixable too, but for the short term I can get very melancholic, fall into a period of ennui again, become untalkative, bitter, fall into an existential crisis, and then try to get my mind off of things by doing something entertaining instead. I may neglect my responsibilities, I'll forget things, feel like I should scream at the top of my lungs to release all the pent up emotions and frustrations with the world, feel like I am not being listened to, cry myself to sleep at night, yadda yadda yadda. These kind of disappointments can really smack me into a long-term depression, and I'll admit I've had a big disappointment lately. One that can perhaps be fixed to the next best thing, one that I am not even all that sure of whether it's my fault or just the fault of the universe (aka, no one) -- which is even worse than at least knowing who to blame and direct my flurry of insults to -- but it's one that hurt like hell.
