WELCOME
Imagine the scenario: it’s your 10th birthday, and you’re having a party. You’re all dressed up, the cake is baked, games have been chosen, you’re waiting for your friends to arrive. Ten minutes before it’s due to start, your parent gets a call, and it’s followed by a flurry of texts. You’d invited 10, but only two turn up. You put on a brave face, but inside you’re devastated.
Disappointment, especially during childhood, weighs heavy on the heart. When you’ve wondered, hoped and dreamed of something, the realisation that it won’t be happening can knock you flat. And the pain of such moments might make you want to avoid feeling like that, ever again. This is when self-protective walls can be raised – blocks to feeling too hopeful, too excited. Expectations, meanwhile, are lowered – if you stop hoping for things, you won’t have to feel disappointed when things don’t work out, right?