Oftentimes in life, people are made to feel they have made the wrong decision, or made the wrong choices, or committed a grave error in some respect. This is a feeling that one cannot help but experience in the aftermath of a situation, the feeling of negative residuum that is likely to linger on. This can be in the wake of certain and specific events that have occurred naturally, and it can also be due to an act that occurred directly as a result of particular circumstances, whether they were orchestrated, or not. However the specific outcome is arrived at, the feeling of wanting, or dissatisfaction and disappointment, or grievance, or discontentment, or any number of other such sentiments which accompany the aftermath are to be expected.
There are many kinds of people that will always endeavor to make a person feel as though they made the wrong decision, or they made the wrong choice. This is a very crafty and cunning way to condition the brain and being, into accepting disappointment, and it also results in the effect of those who might falsely believe they have exercised poor judgment on their part. Or they have been conditioned into feelings of dejection and failure. This can happen when a person finds themselves continually transitioning out of wrong deals, only to come up against more walls or dead ends, sometimes 'that's just life,' as the saying goes. And sometimes it can be a concerted effort, depending on which or whose circumstances are being spoken about. Whether it is motivated and brought about by others, or if it occurs naturally and regardless of others, it cannot be helped or stopped from happening. The reactions and feelings in the wake of such incidents can be as follows;
Loss: When an adept attachment of some kind has been formed, only to have it ripped away, or taken from someone, or for the uprooting to occur by some other means. The feeling of loss hurts more where there is history, an investment of time, effort or resources, and emotional ties involved. Loss, very much like grief, is a potent emotion.
Missed Opportunity: This is an easy way to manipulate a person's perceptions and beliefs of their own life and how they see their future. If one is made to believe that they "missed their chance," in life, or "that ship has sailed," or any other such expression that would indicate a declaration of finality on the matter, they are then doomed to wander around with the false notion that there is no more in store for them. When this is utterly untrue. Your life is your own, and most others cannot determine when and where it stops for you. You can decide to shift gears and start over if you want to. Your future endeavours are not incumbent upon the last opportunity that was presented before you. How you mould and shape your future should not be dependent on the last chance or opening that crossed your path. The entire road of life does not disappear just because a believed or supposed opportunity was taken away.
Regret: Wishing that a situation had turned out differently. This can have a horrendous effect on the mind as it can cause someone to stay fixated on one miscalculated step, where they are always retracing every move they did wrong, and if they had only done something, or even one thing, differently, then things would not have turned out as they had, or better yet, in their favor. This is a horrible combination of self-reproach and repining, mixed with wishful-thinking. There is nothing personally rewarding in staying trapped in a nightmarish mental loop such as this, and it does not do one any good for their mind to become besieged by thoughts of past errors.
Humiliation: There are many instances where feelings of embarrassment, demoralization, shame, and degradation may be inevitable. However immediate and inflamed those feelings are, they are not lasting. There are enough people that would try to make you feel belittled in life, but you do not have to accept any such claims as affirmations any more than you have to accept lies, slander, or any other kinds of falsities. There are always going to be crowds of deriders and naysayers that flock to the site of the next person's fall from grace. After all, no one ever heard of a public execution, or a public flogging where no one showed up.
Isolation: Where a person is made to feel as though they have no one in their corner. As if they were without friends, family, or any kind of network. As though they were some kind of repellent that everyone should steer clear of. This is an illusion and it is meant to have others believe that they have no one backing them, which again is another carefully constructed apparition and a temporary one at that. There are very real contagions that spread throughout populations that can be contracted by people, and conjecture and rumor are not one of them. The loudest opinion, still, does not speak for everyone.
Invalidation: The proposition that a person's skill sets are subpar, foundationally lacking, or on the decline. Not true. Just because they cannot be applied within a certain environment, or are underutilized, or are purposely not taken advantage of, does not mean they are without merit, or wholly nonexistent. A particular set of abilities does not become nullified because others do not know how to use them.
Sometimes it is an accumulation of simple choices made that are melded with more difficult ones that have people believing they just can't find any luck, or things are just not going their way. For instance, a person purchases a car and the vehicle is impounded within weeks. Tough luck. A couple buys an exotic pet and shortly thereafter the animal dies from a rapidly spreading illness. Who would have guessed? A first-time home-owner buys their dream house, and the property value goes down or the neighborhood and general location change over time and they no longer wish to live there. Well, it looks like they made a bad call on that one, didn't they? A family goes on vacation when they haven't traveled together in many years. They lose all their luggage and there are delays and roadblocks at every checkpoint during their travels. Wouldn't you know it? Someone spends a long time deliberating over where to park their car and when they finally find the perfect spot and leave the vehicle they come back only to find a massive dent in the side of their door. Some of us just can't win. The line picked in the grocery store which seems the shortest, ends up being the longest. And so on.
"Discontent is the want of self-reliance; it is infirmity of will." -Emerson