REJECTION: How to Get Over It Fast

Image Credit: Markus Spiske on Unsplash

---

I accidentally discovered a funny little trick to getting over rejection: watch someone you really like getting rejected.

I realize that - at first blush - this sounds perverse, but hear me out.

---

One of my all time favourite writers and bloggers is Mark Manson. I've been following him and his writing for nearly a decade now and I'm a hardcore fan-girl.

His ideas regularly make the needle scratch on the record of my mind; he changes that way I look at life. Anyone who can do that is - to me - a super hero. His is the only single-contributor website I pay to subscribe to because all of his content is so incredibly valuable.

Alright, we've established how much I like Mark Mason, yes?

So a while back I read some of his reviews; specifically, some of his negative reviews.

My mind was blown. I was all like "Who has bad things to say about MARK MANSON?! I mean really!"

As I read the reviews I found myself arguing with the comments "Oh, see now this clearly shows that you just don't get what he's about" or "If you were a real fan, you would know this because he explained it in his newsletter and then you wouldn't have left such a stupid comment."

Yes, fine, everyone is entitled to their opinions. But I still think all those people are very, very wrong.

That's not to say that I agree with absolutely everything Manson says, but overall, I think his work is the bees knees, the cat's meow and that he's a pillar of modern self-help.

Yet this person whose work I so greatly admire is being criticized - REJECTED - by some people. But I can easily brush off those comments because I know Manson's work so I don't see those criticisms as being valid.

And therein lies my solution to getting over rejection: what if you applied the same concept to yourself? 

What if, when someone rejects you, you could say to yourself "Oh, see now this clearly shows that you just don't get what I'm about"?

Put yourself in the shoes of the person who's work you adore, and put the person rejecting you into the shoes of that person you know doesn't get it.

Not everyone is going to get you or your work.

If your heroes can be rejected, you can too. But that doesn't mean the people doing the rejecting are right.

At times, maybe your work does need to be improved, does need to be tweaked.

But at other times, maybe it doesn't. Maybe it's brilliant and some people just don't get it.

Sometimes the people rejecting you are in fact, very, very wrong.

I mean how many publishers said no to J.K. Rowling when she was trying to get Harry Potter published?

Image Credit: Peter Harrington

Those publishers didn't get it, and because of that didn't understand the amazing potential that this little book had. Those publishers will be kicking themselves FOREVER and EVER because they passed on Harry - freakin' - Potter.

So think about that; unless you're a genuinely evil person with zero social skills and terrible personal hygiene, then rejection generally isn't personal; maybe the person doing the rejecting just doesn't get you.

That doesn't mean you suck.

It also doesn't mean they suck.

It's just two people or situations that aren't in alignment; so move on, let go and don't take it personally.

---

The fastest way to get over rejection is to read the rejection of someone you love an admire because it helps you see that:

1 - no one us immune

2 - sometimes the people doing the rejecting are very, very wrong.

Image Credit: Guillaume de Germain on Unsplash

---

Hey Friend! Thanks for reading. If you loved this, why not subscribe? I promise to keep showing up for you with high-quality, thought provoking content.