How to cope with rejection and use it as a stepping stone towards success
Rejection hurts less when you learn how to cope with it. By dealing with rejection the right way, you will rise above self-pity, self-loathing, and self-doubt.
Here’s how to deal with rejection;
1. Stay positive
Rejection is painful. Painful emotions can sometimes push us into bad feelings. Reliving the negative experience over and over can make the situation far worse than it is already. When you dwell on the negative aspects of rejection, you hurt yourself more and this makes it more difficult to move past the rejection.
It’s one thing to feel sad about being rejected, but it’s another thing to dwell on it. Dwelling on rejection will spoil your mood, waste your time and discourage you from trying ever again.
2. Use rejection to level up
Rejection gives you an opportunity to evaluate yourself critically and see if there are things you can improve on. If the skills you presented weren’t good enough, then that’s an opportunity for you to learn a new skill, work on your game or even improve your techniques in answering interview questions.
Rejections act as eye-openers, harsh as they may be. However, if you chose to look at it the right way, rejection can be something that propels you into improving your personality, talents, and skills so that you can excel in life
3. Have an unbiased perspective
How are you explaining the rejection to yourself? Are you putting yourself down? Are you blaming it on yourself?
- “They don’t want me because I am unattractive,”
- “I am dumb,”
- “No one likes me”.
Stick to the facts when you are trying to explain the rejection. Shut down the negative thoughts and focus on the qualifications that are required of you.
When you blame yourself or put yourself down, you exaggerate your faults, and that causes more harm in the end. When you think along negative lines, you crush your spirit and your self-confidence. Rejection hurts, but it’s certainly not the end of the world.
4. Be proud of yourself for trying
You were turned down, but isn’t it better that you tried your best? You acted despite your fears and your self-doubt. Maybe the timing isn’t right, but you gave it your best shot and that is the most important thing at the end of the day
I know rejection stings. I have been there and I understand just how painful it can be. In everything though, I have always been grateful to everyone that rejected me, because for me it was a learning experience. I have always believed that there was a silver lining in every cloud of rejection that I have experienced.
I know without a shadow of a doubt that every rejection has led up to this moment and for that, I am forever thankful.
I hope this has been useful towards helping you reframe how you view rejection and taking it forward to becoming the best possible and deserved version of you
You can always reach out to me if you need help dealing with rejection or read Why It’s Important to Be Defined by Your Personal Values and Not External Factors