Okay, that headline probably sounds pretty cynical of me. But hear me out.

I always feel weird when I start writing a piece on any kind of life advice (i.e. my "Point B" and "Lovable Sidekick" articles). After all, who am I? Just some know-nothing twenty-year-old guy who's been given a platform to write on and carte blanche as far as writing topics go. The point is, you probably shouldn't take anything I have to say to heart. That being said, we're gonna get a little philosophical here today. I hope you're up for it.

Going back to the seemingly pessimistic nature of my headline, I'd like to clarify - I don't consider myself to be a cynic, or a misanthrope, or a "glass-half-empty" kind of person. On the contrary, I'd say that more often than not I'm a pretty positive, upbeat person. But I'm also a realist, and I know not to put too much faith in other people.

The reason for this is that in twenty years of living I've found two rules to be consistently true in nearly every instance: firstly, cold pizza is better than fresh pizza (but that's an argument for another day. . .) Secondly, as you probably guessed from the title of this piece, people will let you down.

https://soarworks.prainc.com/content/light-end-tunnel

We all know this, right? People will let you down! It's like, a basic fact of life, yet it can be so liberating once you finally accept it. We all have expectations for the people in our lives, be they family, friends, coworkers, whatever:

"Do your part of the group project."

"Remember my birthday."

"Please don't cancel our movie plans at the last minute, this is the fifth time in a row . . ."

But regardless of these expectations, people always let us down. And how can they not? People are just people, they can't help but to disappoint. Like the saying says, we're "only human." Shortcomings are kinda the name of the game.

And it hurts, when the people you care about fail to live up to the expectations you've set for them. We've all been there. You learn that your friends have made Friday night plans without you. Your crush, the one you've been talking with for weeks, forgets to wish you a happy birthday. Your lab partners totally drop the ball on this week's report, and you end up writing it yourself until 3 A.M. Goddamn stoichiometry and combustion reactions . . .

https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-pull-off-the-best-and-healthiest-all-night/

Disappointment really bites. But when you can keep it in the back of your mind that people will always let you down, it really softens the blow. More often than not, the people who let us down have the best intentions. And while it's true that we're judged on our actions, not our intentions, keeping the intentions of another in mind helps make it easier to forgive whoever it may be for their inevitable shortcomings.

So yeah, it sucks that people will let you down. However, we all need to try to be more accepting of this fact, because the dirty little secret is that the opposite is also true:

You will let others down.

Just like everyone else in your life, you are also "only human." And we also know this is true. Think back to the last time you disappointed someone - you forgot to do your dishes, you showed up absurdly late for work, you had to cancel a dinner. (Okay, maybe I'm just listing off things I've done recently . . .) In any instance, I'm sure you had the best intentions. You meant to get that thing done. It just . . . didn't happen, because you're not perfect.

https://www.brandondobson.com/im-disappointed/

People will let you down. But conversely, you will let people down. These two truths go hand-in-hand, and they're true for everyone. We're all "only human," and that means we're fundamentally flawed and prone to disappointment. Judge people by their actions, but don't forget to consider intentions. And if you can remember these two rules, you'll be much more at ease when disappointment comes your way.

See? That wasn't brutally pessimistic at all, was it? Now let's wrap things up with a great quote from baseball player Leon Brown:

https://quotefancy.com/quote/852218/Leon-Brown-People-will-let-you-down-in-this-life-promises-will-be-broken-you-should