I’d been excited about a planned get-together, the kind you look forward to and build up in your mind. And then, suddenly, it looked like it wasn’t going to happen.

I felt the disappointment rising in my chest, tears threatening to spill over. My mind raced:

Was I upset for another person who seemed to be accepting this with grace?
Should we have planned the details better?
How were others feeling about this?
Were they as disappointed as I was, or did they see the whole situation differently?

I even fought with myself over whether I had the right to feel this bummed out.

Permission to Feel

Here’s what I’m learning: sometimes we need to give ourselves permission to simply feel disappointed.

Not to fix it immediately.
Not to rationalize it away.
Not to worry about how others are handling it.

Just to sit with the feeling and acknowledge that it’s real.

Once I stopped fighting the disappointment and let myself actually feel it, something shifted. I could breathe again. I accepted that yes, I was bummed, and that was okay.

And then, almost like the universe was waiting for me to get out of my own way, everything came together. The plans that seemed to be falling apart pieced themselves back together in unexpected ways. We ended up having a lovely time, maybe even better than what we originally imagined.

The Messy Beauty of Unplanned Moments

This time of year, emotions can run high. We pour so much thoughtfulness and love into creating special moments for the people we care about. We want everything to be just right, the perfect meal, the perfect gathering, the perfect gift, the perfect memory.

But some of my most cherished memories have happened when plans didn’t go right.

The best moments often emerge from the messy, unexpected ways life unfolds. Plans are wonderful because they give us something to anticipate, a framework for connection. But sometimes they’re just the springboard for beautiful moments we never could have orchestrated ourselves.

The magic isn’t in the perfection.
It’s in showing up, staying present, and being willing to let things unfold differently than we imagined.

An Invitation: Everyday Magic

This experience left me with a question I’ve been sitting with:

What if we brought the same level of thoughtfulness and love into ordinary days, not just holidays?

What if we didn’t wait for special occasions to gather, express gratitude, or create meaningful moments with the people we love?

Maybe it would take the pressure off these big milestone days.
Maybe the holidays wouldn’t feel so heavy or high-stakes.
Maybe disappointment wouldn’t feel so big because we’d know there’s always another chance, another ordinary Tuesday waiting to become extraordinary.

The Real Gift

Here’s what I’m taking away from my moment of disappointment: the tears, the uncertainty, the fear that something special was slipping away, they were all part of the experience. And the joy that came after felt sweeter because of them.

This season, I’m giving myself permission to feel all of it:

The excitement and the disappointment.
The plans and the surprises.
The perfectly orchestrated moments and the beautifully messy ones.

And I’m holding onto this reminder:

Connection doesn’t require perfection.
It only requires showing up with love, again and again, in both the planned moments and the ones that catch us completely off guard.

What unexpected moments have surprised you lately?
I’d love to hear your stories in the comments.

P.S. If this resonated with you, share it with someone who might need the reminder this season.