Among the many virtues and positive qualities of humankind, persistence, perseverance, determination, and good ol’ grit are some of the most important ones. Ever!
They allow us to push forward after failure. And to move towards our goals and loftiest ambitions, step by step, even when we feel like we’re utterly lost. However, in some cases, no amount of persistence is likely to change the fact that some things simply won’t get better.
What follows is a collection of very open and honest posts made by redditors who shared the things that consistently leave them disappointed, yet they keep trying to do them anyway. From hobbies and jobs to relationships, aspirations, and beyond.
There’s a lot of bittersweet motivation here, but we hope you enjoy it, dear Pandas. When you’re done reading the posts, tell us a bit about the things that disappoint you, but you still keep at them.
#1
Thinking my job will get better.
Image credits: itzFinners
#2
Trying to keep in contact with my one sided friendships.
Image credits: sydthefkdown
#3
Trying to enjoy my free time like I used to.
Image credits: ICODE72
Redditor u/es_mo’s thread on r/AskReddit went viral and got over 50.2k upvotes in just a week. They started up an important discussion about how our expectations don’t always match up with reality.
But the underlying conversation also touches upon the power of the human spirit—that there is always hope. Hope that our determination will let us succeed at that which we so desperately want.
#4
Me and my wife trying to get pregnant... took a year for our first and that constant negative test was brutal.We have been trying a year now for a second to the same disappointment. Until last week
Image credits: Sarnick18
#5
Dating.
Image credits: kalmatar
#6
Trusting other people.
Image credits: PackageIllustrious90
A rule of thumb to keep yourself content (or possibly even happy) is to manage your expectations. Generally speaking, we tend to have slightly unrealistic expectations of what might happen. While some of us are more pessimistic, others are overly optimistic.
And when those expectations don’t match up with reality, we can get disappointed. If we consistently fail to manage these expectations, that disappointment will continue. Unless, of course, we try out different strategies to try and reach our goals, and actually manage to break the cycle of failure.
#7
Trying to explain to people that animals are sentient and shouldn't be exploited for human pleasure.
Image credits: lttlprncssbtt
#8
Growing indoor plants.
Image credits: TruthOf42
#9
Being a parent to a (now) toddler during a pandemic while being a good partner to my husband while battling PPD/PPA with minimal mental health care access/ability to get there thanks to a pandemic and having a newborn and contamination OCD and a whole laundry list of other conditions that have only compounded in the last two years. Now trying to figure out how to salvage our relationship because we want what's best for our kid and not wanting to hurt each other more than this already has.
Image credits: thisismeER
Whatever the case might be, it’s best to keep expectations low. If you actually manage to get what you want, you’ll feel elated, ecstatic, and all-around wonderful. However, if there’s any deviation from what you constantly daydreamed would happen, you’ll feel a deep sense of longing and sadness. You might even start questioning your skills, even if the end result is objectively quite good.
As such, it’s best to accept things as they are. Instead of hoping that there will be a moment that everything will fall into place and be ‘perfect,’ you should strive to enjoy what’s around you. Gratitude for what you have and who you have in your life will likely make you happier. And it’s a much better alternative to being disappointed for years.
#10
My wife. She left me in October, and I keep hurting myself by trying to get her to come home. We have two small sons together. I am lost.
Image credits: Chingaderus_
#11
Life.
Image credits: politicaldan
#12
Making non awkward conversation with strangers.
Image credits: Key_Set_7249
#13
Politics. I always vote, but the sh*tshow never gets any better.#14
Being an adult. It Sucks#15
My faith in humanity.#16
Trying to improve my 40 year marriage. Same old issues.#17
The justice system#18
My relationship with my parents#19
Trying to make new friends in my 40s#20
Trying to make my loved ones proud of me.#21
Antidepressants#22
Not having panic attacks everyday. Or throwing up my lunch when I'm at work cause I'm nervous. Showing up and being a reliable employee like the old timers at my job.#23
My relationship with my mom. No child wants a bad relationship with their parents, she just makes it so hard to not resent her for her previous and current actions.#24
Any online LGBTQ+ dating app, it's hard meeting people that are not straight.#25
Finding someone with a similar libido who also sees it as an emotional connection.#26
Being normal.I was diagnosed ADD, ADHD, Bipolar 1, and clinical depression at the age of 10. My whole life ive been told things i can or cant do because im bipolar. Or because i need medicine.
My entire middle school year through half of highschool was spent in a medically induced coma caused by my meds constantly making me so drowsy that i passed out all the time.
It got so bad that the principal informed all teachers to send me to the nurse, with a passing grade, to sleep. For entire school days. This is where the bullying started with rumors about drug use.
People thought i smoked weed. All through highschool i was seen as a pothead cause i was always so exhausted. Id have rocks thrown at me by people. Cinstant bullying and name calling. I kept to myself as much as i could by this point.
The few friends i had would often want nothing to do with me because i was so starved for affection from years of bullying that it made me needy. I dont blame them for wanting to keep a distance.
My whole life i begged to some sort of diety to either fix me or kill me. Sometimes i still do. Ive looked into getting a lobatomy to force some sort of cranial reset and hopefully the connections in my brain would fix themselves. Thats the dream.
Ive been in and out of therapy since the age of 15. And i only got a few mental meditation techniques from it. But other then that? Im probably worse now at the age of 30 then i was at 15. This is partly due to the texas mental healthcare system being a rotating door of garbage.
People will often tell me things like there is no normal. That normal is over rated. That im fine the way i am.
To those people i fart in their direction because there is a normal. Theres a normal of people being able to be happy without drugs or without some sort of clincal assistance. There is a normal where you dont think about horrible dark things.
I want that normal. Ive never felt it. And each time I try to get it, I get disappointed.
Know that i am safe. And you dont need to be a douche with that reddit mental health message. This was me seeing a chance to vent some pain.
Thank you for joining my TED Talk.
#27
Trying to have a baby. Five pregnancies in the last year and a half. One made it to 16 weeks, and I was over the moon. Then there was no heartbeat, and I used medication to produce the most tiniest, most perfect baby girl ever, which I buried in my front yard under some flowers. Sometimes I go over there and say a prayer that in an alternative universe, we are together. IVF is around 20,000 paid up front with genetic testing that I need, so I’m at an impasse and just sad as hell. I just rejoined Reddit because I just needed to say this somewhere anonymously.#28
Trying to have a conversation with my mother.She participated in the kidnapping of my only child back in 2015. My abusive spouse told my family a bunch of lies about me, and instead of calling me and asking me about it, they just took my spouses side and I didn't see my baby for 2 long agonizing months.
I just want to have a conversation about it with my mother because it was her house that my spouse and child stayed in. She had a huge part in this incident and I just want to talk about what happened to me and my child. I've tried many many many times but my mother won't answer calls, she won't respond to emails or dms.
#29
Hoping my father in law does better. He was addicted to drugs for a while, did a bunch of messed up sh*t and left my husband to deal with it all. Now he’s sober and still awful to my husband. I can’t tell my husband how to handle his relationship with his dad, and I certainly can’t make him cut him off. So I just keep hoping and praying that he’ll be better. Hasn’t happened yet. It’s not even that I believe he will anymore, I just continue to hope I’m wrong#30
My self esteem#31
Any competitive multiplayer videogame with teammates.
Image credits: Flashdime
#32
Ordering fries from home. They always arrive cold.
Image credits: dizaster11
#33
My job as a teacher.
Image credits: newenglandredshirt
#34
Getting sober.
Image credits: guntmuff
#35
Tinder.
Image credits: Jesuschristmarieee
#36
Interviewing for a good paying job
Image credits: SixPenceTheRicher
#37
Trying to make friends.I understand Im not everyones cup of tea, but it hurts being the outcast sometimes.
I keep being friendly though.
Image credits: GozerDaGozerian
#38
Making friends and being around family
Image credits: kooc98
#39
Twizzlers. They look and smell like they might be tasty but they always just taste like vaguely cherry flavored wax.#40
Trying to find someone to love, I think I'm going to give up because I'm getting nowhere with it#41
Getting through the day....it's just draining#42
Owning a house.#43
Auditioning for film/theatre#44
Trying to finish school#45
As an Irish gal in the USA, biscuits and gravy!
I'm told it's yummy, and I'm told "oh you just haven't had a good one yet!" or "no, the gravy here isn't that good, you'd like it better from XYZ" but it's been six years and I still haven't had a good one!
It's my SO's favourite breakfast item, so wherever we go, I'll always try his in hope of finding this Holy Grail of biscuits and gravy and some common ground on the breakfast front.
It's Pacific Northwest...I'm told I need to go south to get the good stuff! We live in hope!
#46
Lottery tickets#47
The Toronto maple leafs#48
Relationships#49
Creativity. Whenever I try to make any sort of art whether that is drawing, painting, music, design, etc… I’m left defeat at worst or unsatisfied at best.I’ve always wanted to feel like I could make something that brings me joy… but I can’t seem to find a way to do that. I’ve tried small and large classes, private practice, and even imitation.
I’m always left feeling worse about myself than I was before I started.
#50
the stock market#51
Fast food.#52
Having a relationship with my middle sister.#53
Sex with men.#54
Video games.I used to enjoy them very much. Now I can't. From time to time, I buy a game and get excited about it. I feel like I'll enjoy it this time, but I quickly get disappointed.
I think I enjoy real-life challenges more. Real-life is a harder, better game if you take the challenges.
#55
Trying to save money! Holy sh*t its next to impossible.#56
SEO- just when my traffic starts to grow, Google changes some sh*t and I go back 30%. I don't do any blackhat sh*t but its hard for a 1 person blog to compete with big businesses. But I still keep trying.#57
The sushi at Costco.#58
Movie sequels.#59
I'm shocked that nobody has said "sex" yet.#60
Trying to lose weight.#61
Trying to have an active sex life with my wife.#62
Taco Bell. I mean it was never really good but in the last couple of years it has fallen off the cliff. For some reason every couple of months I’ll give it another shot just to be disappointed and throw most of it away and say never again.#63
Buying a house in the past year.#64
Trying to take two strokes off my golf game.#65
Domino's pizza#66
Doordash. Not one competent ahole among any of the damn drivers.#67
Earning a paycheck#68
Smoked turkey drumsticks.#69
Reading classic novels.#70
New Star Wars movies#71
Voting. Doesn't really matter who gets elected, there are still wars in the middle east, massive government debt, continual erosions of freedom, poor getting left behind, military industrial complex thriving, stupid policies enacted, politicians helping each other and their friends instead of the populace, etc. etc.#72
Day trading.#73
Chinese food in Minnesota#74
brussel sprouts.i keep trying but they're terrible. they look all pretty like they should taste good. but they're terrible. disappointed every time.
#75
Pickles. I’m disgusted every time but every time someone brings out some pickles I just can’t resist#76
trusting my parents#77
McDonald's fries...weren't these once not white, limpy sticks of sad potatoes?#78
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