Everyone will face rejection in some form or another. Not receiving that job you set your heart on, the woman or man you admire not having reciprocating feelings, not getting the house you wanted to buy and the list can continue.
It begins with determining and knowing your self value. If you feed yourself negative self talk 24/7 your reaction to rejection is 99.9% more likely to manifest itself in an unpleasant way.
I once allowed myself to fall into the "not good enough" mindset. It took a long list of rejections for me to figure out that I was also teaching others to believe I wasn't good enough.
One day all of that changed. I was given a job I knew very little about and I knew I had to get good enough. An elderly lady was depending on me and I started going running on any small windows of time off I had. First it started with walking/jogging intervals and as time progressed I was running for 30 minutes to an hour. I used those runs as therapy and I started feeling capable of a happier attitude and I rejected the false idea that I wasn't good enough.
Yesterday I had an appointment to be to and I scheduled a small errand after church. As I was walking across the crosswalk a young man in front of me continued to turn his head as if I was a familiar face. As he arrived at the sidewalk he stopped and waited for me to finish crossing. This is a crosswalk I usually run across jump the stairs and run to the next street, but until I've fully recovered and have the tube out of my kidney I'm playing it safe. The young man told me he knew me and I had to ask his name. It turned out to be a guy who had taken me on a date about 4 years ago on his motorcycle to a waterpark. I'm fairly certain I got the courtesy,"I'll call you." Rejecting rejection is knowing that you can give yourself permission to accept that things didn't work not because you aren't skinny, have the perfect house, job, etc. Simply that an individual may have an idea of what their preferences are and that is okay. I quickly realized I wasn't willing to hit the rewind button and engage this young man in conversation. I had my honest out where I quickly told him I had a service project to be to in 20 minutes. Rejecting rejection is being able to be kind enough to walk away after just causing a man to do a triple take because you aren't the "not good enough" woman he met 4 years ago. Instead you smile everywhere you go and are excited about the opportunity to pay it forward that was placed in front of you.
Yesterday a group of friend's and I went out on a special service mission with Santa. We visited a skilled nursing facility where I saw a sweet elderly lady in a wheelchair beckoning the staff for my attention. As I walked over to the woman she asked me my name and I asked for her name. She had many questions and seemed confused. I finally figured out she thought I was staff. I explained to her I was visiting and thanked her for letting me come to her home. She said she didn't think I liked it and told me it was junk. Here is where rejecting negativity/rejection is important. I told the adorable lady I was happy to be there to which she wanted to know what we would do the rest of the day.
It's often stated its not what happens to us but how we react to what happens to us that counts.
Reject rejection. Live, love and let go.
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