How To Bounce Back From Rejection To Greatness
Whether it’s being rejected for a job, by a romantic partner, from friends, or even your family, the feeling of rejection is an unpleasant one.
Rejection brings about our most negative emotions, unworthiness, inadequacy, insecurity, shame, and ultimately wondering whether we are good enough.
No matter how often you have been rejected whether it was once or a few times, no doubt you remember that feeling of hurt and try everything to avoid it.
However, by doing this you also avoid taking risks which can minimise your chances of opportunities. These opportunities could be having your dream career, a beautiful romantic relationship, or genuine friendships and connections.
Rejection is unavoidable because it is out of your control.
Fortunately, what you can control is learning how to manage it and having the ability to bounce back to a place where you feel confident enough to put your heart at risk once again. Here are a few ways how;
How to Bounce Back from Rejection
Don’t overthink it
Avoid giving negative feelings too much power; the more you focus on the pain of rejection, the more your self-confidence diminishes, the less you are likely to take risks, and the longer it will take for you to rebuild your strength.
Focus on the people who have positively inspired and encouraged you.
By doing this, you help yourself to become better aligned with positive situations.
Find out what scares you about rejection
What is it about the situation that makes you feel rejected?
Do you feel rejected in love because you fear being lonely?
Identifying this will encourage you to prioritise developing friendships, helping to alleviate the feelings of loneliness.
Maybe you worry about being rejected by prospective employers because of your current financial concerns.
Before applying for jobs, have a strategy in place in case things don’t go to plan, and you don’t get the job you want right away.
Rejection enables you to learn and grow.
One positive outlook on rejection is being able to reflect on what you have learnt and apply those lessons to similar situations in the future.
Perhaps being rejected from a job interview will encourage you to look into other avenues or help towards building resilience in your character.
While working as a fashion stylist, rejection became the norm. I was getting rejected every day by PR houses unwilling to lend pieces from high-end designers to magazines that didn’t want to feature our photoshoots.
Admittedly, the first few no’s were soul-destroying. I started to feel perhaps I was just a crap stylist, or not as good as I thought I was, but I persisted. I worked relentlessly, learning from the people around me and knowing I had the talent to work with high-end brands.
After a few years, I had become so fearless of rejection and confident in both myself and my work that it started to reflect in the results I was getting.
PRs and fashion houses such as Prada, Dolce and Gabbana, Giorgio Armani and Dior were more than willing to lend to the shoots I was working on, and magazines including Vogue Italia wanted to showcase the photoshoots I had styled.
In some cases, rejection is disguised as a learning curve because you are capable of so much more.
Rejection reveals Resilience
Often enough, we don’t know how strong we are until we have to be.
Challenging times cause you to see a side of your personality you may not have otherwise known you had until you were faced with it. Rejection proves you are willing to take risks, push boundaries and exceed limitations.
It’s proof that you are comfortable with living life to its fullest and brave enough to step outside of your comfort zone, which shows strength of character.
Next time you are faced with rejection, instead of feeling unworthy, remind yourself of how strong you were in the first place to put yourself in a vulnerable position and recognise how courageous you had to be to go after what you wanted.
Rejection is Redirection
Nothing meant for you will pass you by; rejection can mean you are being guided down a different path to the one you had initially anticipated, but maybe it’s the path that will lead you to everything you ever wanted.
Embrace change; sometimes you don’t know why something is happening.
You don’t know why you’re going through a messy divorce, or losing your childhood friends, or not being accepted for every job you have applied for. Take it as a sign you are being redirected to something bigger and better.
A happier relationship, a new group of friends who are more on your wavelength, or a job position that will catapult your career.
FINALLY…
What helps you to bounce back from rejection to greatness is sheer confidence in knowing that even when things don’t go the way you had hoped, you are worthy and deserve to live a happy and fulfilled life.
The timing of rejection is out of your control, but your perspective and how you manage it are, and that is what essentially enables you to bounce back stronger and greater.
