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Rejection. One little word that packs a punch. It stops us from having a lot of opportunities. It casts fear and doubt into our minds. But what can we learn from that one word? I can honestly tell you that over the past three years I have been rejected more than I ever thought possible. I also didn’t know that it would make me long for being accepted.

I’ve been rejected from graduate schools across the United States. I’ve been rejected from job application after job application. I’ve been rejected by close friends. I’ve been rejected from peers. And at times I’ve even rejected myself and my situation. I never thought I would get to that point.

Add all of this rejection day after day, week after week, and year after year and you start to not care about a lot of things. Somehow you live your life just day by day wondering what you’re going to do next. I’ve been through every plan I’ve come up with and I’ve started over again and again. And none of it seems to make a difference.

You know, I’ve always believed that when one door closes another one opens and if it isn’t a door it’s a window. The last few years have taught me that maybe this isn’t the case. Sometimes you have to walk down a long hallway that doesn’t have any doors or windows to choose. Sometimes you have to be okay walking down the hallway and just when you’ve decided that everything will be okay, then the door or window opens. You just have to be okay with where you are. After all, you can’t move forward unless you accept your past decisions and actions.

The last three years of being rejected left and right and up and down has taught me that sometimes there is a much bigger plan. There is a reason we get rejected, but that shouldn’t stop any of us from living the dream. Rejection is just an alternative route to your destination. So, rejection . . . what is it good for? Absolutely. Everything.

High Five Rejection

“It is the Unknown we fear when we look upon death & darkness, nothing more.” Albus Dumbledore (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, J.K. Rowling)
The “Unknown.”  What a terrifying concept!  And we face it every day.  We never know if today will be our last orDumbledore_2 the start to many others. We don’t know exactly what the future holds, but we live each day assuming that we have another. I personally really like that assumption. I enjoy assuming that I will be around tomorrow. I have hopes and dreams I want to accomplish. I have desires that may seem will never come true. And yet, I wait patiently and work. I work on trying to figure out what to do with my life. I have had so many doors closed in my face the past year. The doors I thought I wanted opened. But as a song that rings so true (like almost every Carrie Underwood song), these lyrics always tug at my heart-strings:

As bad as it was, as bad as it hurt
I thank God I didn’t get what I thought that I deserved
Sometimes life leads you down a different road
Someday you’ll see the reason why
There’s good in goodbye, yeah
(Carrie Underwood, “Good in Goodbye”)

Rejection is a hard thing to deal with. But what is worse is letting the Fear of Rejection stop you from becoming something you desire to be. We fear the unknown, but I think perhaps we fear potential consequences. I know that McGonagallstops me from completing a lot of my goals. I’m a chicken. I’m too scared to do the hard things. I’m admitting it, and you better admit it too. What’s the one thing you are terrified to do? Is it because you are worried about how you may look? Are the consequences only in your head? Are you afraid of the reality of your situation? I know I am guilty of all of the above. Reality can sometimes really be terrifying. The fear of uncertainty is a thief of dreams. It slowly takes our hope, faith, and the desire to become better. I don’t want the fear of failure, the fear of the unknown to steal my hopes, dreams, and desires.