Rejection Is Not the End

By Natalie Sivertsen on May 1, 2012

Whether it was being denied a spot on the high school football team or a dream date to prom, we’ve all gotten pretty familiar with rejection. Now that we’re in college, summertime usually means applying for jobs and internships, but with so much competition these days, rejection is sure to become familiar once again. What makes rejection tough is that no matter how many times it happens it still hurts just as bad. Although pain is unavoidable, something we can control is how we react when life brings us down.

Photo from flickr.com by Sean MacEntee

Perhaps the most important thing to remember when rejection slaps us in the face is that there is never a shortage of opportunity. Just because you didn’t get that internship you wanted does not mean you can never be as successful. There are millions of opportunities out there and each one will give you something unique you couldn’t have learned anywhere else. The only one who is really stopping you from accomplishing your dreams is yourself. If a certain employer doesn’t choose you for a position, remember that they are just one person. Never let the opinion of a stranger determine your worth because you are only about as valuable as what you think you are, not what others think you are.

One of the best examples of never letting rejection get you down is from the movie Rudy. For those who haven’t seen it, it is a true story about a guy who has wanted to play football for Notre Dame his whole life. Growing up, his family, friends, and teachers told him he could never make it. He was denied several times when he applied to the university and he worked for years to accomplish his goal no matter what anyone around him said. Any time he would be knocked down, he would respond by working twice as hard to pick himself back up and it paid off. He eventually played in the final game of the season where he was carried off the field at the end of the game by his teammates. It is hard to imagine how different his life would have been if he believed the degrading remarks of others and gave up along the way.

When we are denied, it is ten times easier to sit in our room and mope about how our entire lives have just been flushed down the drain than to get back up and make something of ourselves, but the ability to do so is what will make us great. Always remember that employers do not choose your fate, you do.

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