How To Deal With Rejection

Hi, Sike here 👋

Sometime in 2020, I decided to do an internship during my school break.

At that time I wasn’t particular about any company, I just wanted to intern and hone my skills.

I applied to 10 organizations with the hope of getting at least, an opportunity with one of them.

To my amazement, some of them didn’t get back to me and those that responded said “sorry, we don’t have an opening at the moment”.

I felt rejected, it was as though there was no place for me to fit into. But rather than give up at that point, I was determined to get an opportunity, regardless of how many times I got a rejection mail.

So, for every “sorry” mail I got, I applied to 10 more organizations.

By the time I finally got the internship, I had applied to over 150 companies and I got the role in 5 different places at the same time.

This left me with the decision to choose the one I considered best for me at the time.

Now, every human being has experienced a form of rejection. It ranges from your parents refusing to buy you ice cream when you were two years old because you had a cold to the guy that broke up with you on your 25th birthday when you thought you would be married before the age of 26.

Rejection can be painful, it could hurt you so much that you begin to doubt the reason for your existence.

Sometimes, you may do everything right, yet you get rejected, and then, you start to see rejection as punishment from God.

While I wish that every time you experience rejection, I am present to hug you or even cheer you up, I cannot.

Therefore, I have decided to write to you on “How To Deal With Rejection” so that you have help whenever you experience it.

So how does one deal with rejection?

1. Acknowledge How You Feel.

The one thing you do not want to do is to ignore how you feel.

Does it hurt? Yes! It does.

So, please, do not make it seem like it’s not a big deal while in reality, it is and you feel bad about it.

While acknowledging how you feel, you must also take responsibility by not dwelling on the hurt you feel so that you can move on.

2. Rejection Does Not Define You.

I know that it probably felt like your world was about to crumble or even crumbled when you got rejected. However, you must know that you are not defined by rejection but by God’s word and that is greater than any title, achievement, or rejection you may face.

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future — Jeremiah 29 vs 11 NIV

3. Learn From Rejection.

More often than not, I’ve realized that in every event, there is always one or two things to learn.

You’ve been told “No”. However, instead of sulking for long, how about you do introspection on areas you should improve on?

Ask yourself, “how do I improve the outlook of my CV or my skills?

Am I easily angered or what do I need to do better to have a healthy, sustainable relationship?

Just honest and constructive questions that will help you learn from the situation and become better.

4. Manage Your Expectations.

This is a place of mind conditioning. Am I telling you to expect rejection? No.

All I’m saying is that you should prepare for it.

Have it somewhere in your mind that it can happen and then prepare for it so that it doesn’t hurt as much, if and when it does happen.

5. Don’t Give Up.

When you get rejected, you may be tempted to think that it will be permanent or that you will never get over the hurt, and you will always fail in every area of life.

This is a lie, a very big one at that and you shouldn’t be romanticized by such negative thoughts.

Instead, you should always remind yourself that God is intentional about you and that He sees you.

He sees all that you are going through and He’s with you through it all.

His presence does not mean that you will not go through situations such as rejection, His presence assures you that even though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, He is with you.

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me — Psalm 23 vs 4 NIV

So, do not label yourself a failure because of rejection. You are who the word of God says you are and rejection is a temporary event. Sometimes, it is one of the necessary steps in the pursuit of success.

Finally, I’d like to know if you’ve ever been rejected or experienced rejection.

Please share with me in the comment section or you can share via email. Send a mail to mailtheyellowblog@gmail.com.

I leave you with all my love,

Sike Bankz 💛