OF course, rejection hurts, and a series of rejections hurts even more – rejection of a job or loan application, business or wedding proposal, a solution to a problem, or even a simple invitation! Can you identify? There is always pain whenever somebody experiences rejection, but it does not mean a death sentence!
Wise people take every rejection just as a scratch. “Ouch!” Then they move on to the next plan or option. They know that rejections do not diminish their worth as persons and their abilities to accomplish great things. Rejections do not always mean their ideas are not okay. It is just that sometimes people have other priorities.
Did you know that the founders of the Reader’s Digest, one of the most widely-read magazines in the world, were rejected by several publishers? Did you know that Jack Ma, one of the richest Chinese men, was rejected by KFC? They did not dwell on the pain. They did not give up. Why should you?
The safest way to be is to “just be” – to stop saying or doing anything productive and meaningful… to avoid setting bigger goals and expanding one’s horizon. But life, as one philosopher once said, is “never just a being”. It is “a becoming, a relentless flowing on”.
For those who believe that life must never be stagnant, for people who refuse to accept complacence as a way of life, rejections are inevitable.They do not keep a record of rejections… no flashback, so they do not feel the pain anymore, just the excitement of working on the next option.
Do not be onion-skinned when people say “No” or when you don’t hear from them. Remember Jack Ma and the founders of the Reader’s Digest. Life is a series of options! Possibilities are endless.
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(Marilyn Arayata: hope and enthusiasm advocate/inspirational author and speaker. E-mail [email protected])
(Marilyn C. Arayata)
