Rejection is, for most of us, an occasional part of everyday life. From not being picked for the sports team to being dumped by your first romantic partner to not being selected for that fantastic career opportunity ? standard rejection happens every day to one of us. I don?t know about you but being rejected doesn?t fill me with a warm wonderful feeling that I want to share with the world; in short, it is usually not a great experience. However, we all know that it happens.
While the ?healthiest? way for us to handle rejection is to accept it, if appropriate to learn from it, and decide, relatively quickly, to move on, this is not always easy to do. Repeated rejection in quick succession can be emotionally difficult to cope with and some people are crushed by it. It is, of course, unrealistic not to take some rejection personally when it is something that we are offering that is being declined. If we have put our heart and soul into preparing for something, not to receive the response we were hoping for can be frustrating and annoying.
Being rejected by those we love for who we are, e.g. our physical appearance, our choice of dress, the way we choose to see our world and the wider world can seem incredibly cruel and unjust. It can temporarily seem impossible to swallow it and move ahead with our lives ? but what is the alternative?
When we reject something it is usually because we don?t feel a ?fit? with it, we don?t understand it and we may be afraid of it. However, if we then take some time to try to find a way for it to fit with our beliefs, we try to understand it and try to find the real reason for our fear then we may just find that we can accept it after all ? and do so easily. But if not and we feel that it is not for us at this time then that is the way it is.
One thing that we can choose to remember when rejecting something or someone is that we know how it feels to be on the receiving end. Employing kindness, thoughtfulness and compassion won?t change our decision but may sweeten the pill a tad for someone else.
Guest Blog By Barbara Guest:
Web: www.barbaraguest.co.uk
Telephone: 0161 708 9732 (09:30 ? 6pm)
Email: barbara@barbaraguest.co.uk