Facing Rejection, Is It Okay?

While People May Not Like Rejection, Everyone Will Face It at Least Once in Their Life and That Is Okay

Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash

Everyone faces rejection, and everyone can attest to how bad it feels. Imagine trying out for the football team and working all week to perform your best in front of coaches, and a week later your name is not on the roster for the upcoming season. Picture yourself finally getting a letter from your dream school, just for it to say that you have not been accepted. Rejections like these are far from wanted feelings, but they are a common occurrence that everyone must experience. While rejection may be a challenging obstacle to overcome, it is a part of life and will help build on the foundation of character development.

Rejection happens all the time through relationships, job interviews, athletic teams, college letters and more. While this sense of denial can tear someone down, being challenged with rejection makes individuals realize that things will not always come easy. A key part of rejection is eventual acceptance and growth, all of which can help someone flourish as a person. According to NBC News, although rejection may sting, it creates a signal to the brain that, while painful, allows the person to learn and let go of the feelings. The different emotions that people experience can eventually help them overcome the rejection, which in turn helps build their character due to the lessons learned in the process.

Rejection occurs for people of all ages, all the way from fighting over the line leader position in elementary school to getting denied from a job as an adult. In life, rejection reigns and it cannot be avoided, so there’s no point in trying to fight against it. Rejection simply means that with one time, situation or person, things didn't work out. People need to acknowledge that rejection will happen at least once in a lifetime, and it may not always be because of themselves and their actions. Whether it’s because someone is more qualified or there were not enough positions available, rejection can occur for a myriad of reasons. Accepting those rejections sooner rather than later can better prepare someone for future ones.

Feeling let down, broken and irrelevant are all emotions that can be felt when dealing with rejection. Nevertheless, because of rejection, personal improvements can be made. Human beings have to acknowledge that rejection will come face-to-face with them one day. No matter how many times someone has failed or experienced rejection, working to understand that rejection will help individuals improve from their faults. After a rejection, people can step back and evaluate what they need to do better for next time. The feeling of being unwanted may be hard to handle, but rejection can make a positive impact on someone's life if they discover what that rejection can teach them. Working through rejection will enable improvements that will help someone not only learn how to face it the next time it comes around, but potentially avoid it as well.

Some may argue that rejection is wholly terrible because it can greatly hurt and discourage people. While this may be true, its positives will eventually outweigh its negatives, as it is a learning experience that can greatly impact everyone's life. It helps people learn from situations and move on to improve for the future. Next time you are in a situation where you are faced with rejection, know that while it is human to make mistakes, you can learn from those past blunders and that time heals the wounds made by the natural part of life that is rejection.