The day that I rejected rejection
March 20, 2018
Have you every been rejected? If your answer is “no” then I would submit to you that you are living far too inside your comfort zone. When we are inside of our comfort zone we are within a protective bubble so to speak and as a result, we do not experience the pain of rejection that comes from being a risk taker.
If, however you are living outside of your comfort zone and your protective bubble you will know the sting of the ole mighty rejection. If you think back to that time or those times depending on how far out of your bubble that you are, you will remember the heart sinking feeling of the word NO! When you hear it, it screams at you and feels as though it has cut your heart.
You have spent tireless hours creating a masterpiece and you muster the courage and what energy you have left to share it with another person. You eagerly await their response only to have it pushed back in your face and be told that it wasn’t a good fit or not what they were looking for. In shock and dismay, you sit back and ask yourself why that person didn’t like it, why they didn’t appreciate your hard work and what is wrong with you.
It can be extremely difficult to receive the word no when your heart and soul rested in your masterpiece. It can be even harder when the word “no” becomes a word that you hear a hundred times a day for months on end. This my friends wears on your soul. It will cause you to reconsider if even for a moment your desire to continue this quest for success. It will suggest to you that perhaps you were wrong about your calling and that maybe walking away from your dream is in fact what you should do. I mean really you tell yourself, I could just forget all of this and punch a time clock, go home, leave it at the office and not deal with any of this. I could save myself a lot of misery and heartache you begin to convince yourself. I could just…and then it hits you, WAIT!!!!!
Wait just one minute you say. I have not done all of this for nothing. I have not spent the XX years of my life wishing, hoping, dreaming and praying for this to just walk away. Who is this person who rejected me anyway you say? What do they know?? The answer to that question is irrelevant. What is relevant is the question of what are you going to do now?
In that moment you have a choice. You can choose to accept that rejection and let it sink in to your core and begin to destroy your dream or you can put it in its proper place. You can choose to accept it for what it is, another person’s right to pass on an opportunity that does not line up with their current objectives. This is truly not personal (though we make it that way). It is not a personal affront to your talent, skills, abilities or your worth. It simply means that what you have to offer does not suit the needs of another person in a given moment.
A person’s rejection of your offering is not a reflection of your value and should never dictate how you feel about yourself. Furthermore, it should never derail you from your goals. Rejection though cruel and often unusual is temporary. You will get past it and in the end you will have learned, improved and overcome it.