REJECTION

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It doesn’t really get easier, it’s people who become tougher in order to attain success in life. Rejection has lots of definitions, depending on how people frame it. For some people, it teaches and shapes them. For others, it breaks and limits them.

As a writer, the rejection of your manuscripts can make you think writing is not for you. It might make you never want to write again, talk less of attempting to submit your work for publication. It might make you experience never-ending writer’s block. It’s never an easy road; one has to fight the low self-esteem instilled by rejection every day.

But if you don’t write and submit, how can people read you?

As an actor or a commercial model, you’re so afraid of going for auditions because of the countless rejections you’ve had. You don’t get a callback after giving it your best. You get up every day, look at yourself in the mirror and all you see is a failure. You want to try, you seriously want to try, but you can’t because you’ve lost the zeal. It really does hurt.

But if you don’t go for auditions, how will you get that dream role that could land you bigger contracts?

As a jobseeker, your CV and resume have become constant visitors to all the companies, to the extent that they don’t need to read all the way through to know it’s you. You are known, known for rejection. Some don’t even interview you before rejecting you. The whole universe knows you to be a hunter that never catches anything. It breaks you anytime you see your peers counting their successes while you’re busy counting failures all the time. It kills the mind. It destroys efforts.

But if you stop searching, how can you get lucky and land that well paying job?

I’ve had my own experiences of rejection. When I submit my work – poems, short stories or articles – I always rush to my email to see what might be cooking for me. In the end, I usually get a heartbreaking rejection email which makes me cry at times and never want to write again. Sometimes, I write back to them requesting to know why my work was rejected, but I don’t get a reply.

It has also happened to me in my job search. Some companies review my CV but never get back to me. Others review it and send a lengthy rejection email, which hurts me so much. I have learnt to stop complaining and start to see the YES in every NO I get from people; to see rejection as a redirection to a better outcome.

I am not the strongest, nor the bravest, nor the richest, nor the best, nor the most intelligent, nor the most talented. But I am one thing: that human who will not stop, until my good is better, and my better, best.

It is not over for you yet. Be encouraged and keep your eyes on the goal.

You will reach it.