Letdown

The disparity between the loftiness of expectation and the weight of reality.
I guess letdown is gravity in a way--the process of bringing one's feet back to the grit of day to day.
Letdown--investments that hit the bear market of hearts and heads. Relationships, friendships, jobs, applications--hopes that don't live up to the time, energy and emotion that is exerted, ending before expected.
Knowing there could be, and probably will be a letdown, how are we not to despair our way into hermitude?
If there is optimism in letdown?
Where is optimism in letdown?
I guess it's in the boof.
When kayaking a waterfall, a paddler has to get up enough speed and power to launch herself off the falls, traveling faster than the current beneath her. If done properly, she will travel out into the air and land away from the bottom of the falls. This is called "boofing" for the sound the boat makes when it hits the water.
If not enough speed/power is attained, the paddler will fall with the water over the lip, probably being turned upside-down in mid-air, landing on her head and getting pummeled by the falls, leading to serious injury, death or just embarrassment.
Optimism is those few extra strokes that separate the boof from the douche--both ways a letdown, two different ways to run it.