I have an overwhelming fear of letting people down - which, however, doesn't mean I haven't done it. Hara Estroff Marano, editor-at-large of Psychology Today, explains: "Letting someone else down stings doubly, because you also disappoint yourself as well as the other, and you have that visceral knowledge and experience. Echoing this point is my friend Brett Shanaman's observation that "Letting someone else down is worse than being disappointed by somebody else, because it's within our control." Angela Fellers' insightful perspective on her own reasons for believing that it's easier to be let down than to let others down - "My capacity to forgive others is larger than my capacity to forgive myself" - might sound unnervingly familiar. We have to forgive those who let us down the way we hope to be forgiven by those we've disappointed.

Source: Otago Daily Times September 29, 2019 15:33 UTC