Ever thought about the difference between anger and frustration? As stated in one of the previous posts, anger is about somebody crossing your boundaries; frustration, instead, is about not achieving your goals or not fulfilling your expectations. Does it sound familiar?
In case of frustration you have two choices:
Change the way of achieving your goal/meeting your expectations.
Change the goal/expectations.
Sometimes we bring frustration to ourselves by setting unrealistic goals or having certain expectations (at times not even our own expectations, but instilled by culture, context, family, etc) which prevent us from enjoying what is.
There's a famous quote that says: “O God, give us the serenity to accept what cannot be changed, the courage to change what can be changed, and the wisdom to know the one from the other.” Whatever way we interpret God, the message itself has something powerful in it. For Anna for many years it was very difficult to accept that there are things she cannot change. And the same is true for Andrea. Seek for the right balance between those points in different stages of your life is quite a healthy habit since frustration, although may be a good drive, if lingering too long can bring health issues, lack of satisfaction or cynicism. Mindfulness can be a good practice here, learning to accept what is and finding joy in small things. And acceptance doesn’t mean to stop acting. Change brought from seeing the reality as it is can be at least as powerful, if not more, as the change coming from frustration.