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How I Learned To Face — and Even Appreciate — Rejection
“We regret to inform you…”
The dreaded words. As someone in the arts, I’ve certainly opened my fair share of letters and emails only to see some variation of the above. I won’t lie and say that I’m ever excited to be rejected — I don’t think too many people would be — but I have learned not to get as upset by it as I used to. And yes, sometimes I can even almost appreciate it. Here’s how.
Rejection usually isn’t personal.
This can be tough to remember, especially when you’re pursuing a field that is by its very nature personal (for example, writing or acting). It can be hard to realize that a rejection of your work doesn’t equate to a rejection of you. But most of the time rejection has very little to do with whether or not someone likes you as a person. Even if they did for some reason take a dislike to you, remember that a job interview, audition, or short application form doesn’t give a full or accurate picture of a person, and you shouldn’t allow it to make you feel less confident.
It also doesn’t mean that you weren’t good enough.
The best person doesn’t always get the job. It may sound cliche, but that doesn’t make it any less true. Someone else may have been a better fit for that particular place, even though they weren’t any more deserving…
