Rejection is one of the hardest things to go through as an individual.
At one instance, you’d feel all sorts of emotions, even the pain that follows is ruthless.
Whatever the circumstances that must have spurred the rejection, whether you were being turned down by the hiring manager of your dream job, or a potential romantic relationship, the agony you feel is genuine, the misery and the confusion cannot be put into words.
The feeling of rejection comes with different phases and they include:
1. Denial
When you face rejection, the first knot of emotions that hits you is disbelief. You try to comprehend it but you can’t.
Your line of thought goes, “how can this be?”, “This can’t be happening”, “there must be a mistake somewhere”.
You deserve that job opportunity because you put in your best, likewise that person’s love, regard and respect, so you might feel something’s just off.
2. Anger
After denial, comes anger. This stems from the realization that your rejection isn’t a misunderstanding.
The pain of your loss begins to build up, frustration and defeat set in and once you discover that the person who rejected you has failed to recognize the error of their ways, you might be mad.
At this point, it might be tempting to go off on the person.
3. Bargaining
When your anger must have melted away, you might begin to reason that your rejection could have been a result of false information or a lack of knowledge. You begin to consider going to talk things over with the person to win them back.
Trying to reach out to the person could devolve into something disturbing and frightening for the other person if you let it.
4. Depression
Rejection comes with a string of emotions. At one point you are hurting, feeling sad, confused, embarrassed, angry and disappointed. You may begin to feel worthless, with your self-confidence and ego bruised.
All these emotions can result in depression.
5. Acceptance
After you get a hold of yourself, your emotions no longer spill everywhere, and you’re feeling much better and more confident.
You may decide to critically analyse the situation and pick out what you may have done wrong. Maybe the rejection emanated from your shortcomings or other factors beyond your control.
You may even spot a mistake you made and learn from it. Sometimes you may never fully understand why and all you have to do is just move on.
How do you deal with rejection?
Learning what to do after getting rejected will help you build a resilient mindset and keep moving forward.
Rejection is bound to happen.
Rejection is a part of life. Every successful person may have experienced rejection at some point in their life. And if you haven’t, maybe you are not putting yourself out there and taking enough risks.
You are still playing it safe. One rejection can foster a lot of positive changes.
Accept the rejection
One of the worst things to do when rejected is to live in denial. The longer you mislead yourself into believing that it is not an issue of concern, the more difficult it will be to overcome the pain and disappointment.
Your best chance at healing is acceptance. Acknowledge all the feelings and deal with them.
Work through your feelings
Once you have accepted the situation, it gets easier. The next thing to do is to work on the emotions and learn positive ways to manage them.
You don’t have to punch anyone when you are angry or engage in verbal combat.
Be compassionate with yourself
Feeling upset and disappointed in yourself is totally fine but you shouldn’t stay that way for too long.
For you to be able to bounce back to your old, confident self, you need to take care of yourself.
Don’t stay beaten and begin to work yourself up by overthinking the circumstances, rather, love yourself some more and take your time to heal.
Pay close attention to your health
It doesn’t take much to let everything slip while being wrapped in rejection and disappointment.
You have to make a conscious effort to guard your body and mind against any adverse effects that these feelings of rejection might come with.
A good escape can be exercising, taking up a new skill, or being surrounded by loved ones. But if nothing works, seek the help of a professional.
Learn to live above your rejection.
Instead of being coiled up in your shell, step out and do things differently. Don’t try to be someone else, stay true to yourself and you will attract just the right kind of people that would love and appreciate you and everything you have to offer. That also applies to the right kind of career opportunity.
Let your experience teach you
Instead of brooding, analyse the situation critically and learn from it. Take out action points and apply them where necessary. It will make you a better version of yourself.
See your rejection as a breeding ground for greatness.
Let it change you positively.
