How to Gracefully Deal With Rejection
Rejection is one of those things that we all have to deal with at some point in our lives. There will always be women who don’t want to go on dates with you, a promotion you don’t get, or famous basketball players who don’t want to come to your house because they think you’re some kind of asshole. …
Whereas your first reaction to a rejection might be to state that you don’t want this person to come up to you anyway, like “I’m taking my ball and going home!” the reaction can often seem childish and insincere because it is.
Here’s how some experts suggest dealing with rejection a little better.
Learn from failure
Inc. suggests that instead of simply dealing with the pain of rejection, “mentally strong people ask themselves,“ What have I gained from this? “So they can learn from failure” and turn the experience into an opportunity for self-development. When you look at things from this perspective, every time you are rejected is another learning opportunity.
“Whether you learn about areas of your life that need improvement, or you just realize that being rejected is not as bad as you imagined, rejection can be a good teacher. Use rejection as an opportunity to move forward with greater wisdom, ”suggests Inc.
Remember your chances
Know in advance what your chances of success are in a given situation. While you can’t know for sure if a woman will accept your dinner invitation, if she’s already told her that she doesn’t like you, you can guess your chances are not very high.
Psychology Today says, “With the chances in mind, all rejections along the way become more bearable.” It says that knowing that your chances of success are low is not a reason not to try at all. Only 2% of job applications actually lead to vacancies, and you never know when you will actually hit that 2%.
However, it is always good to know your audience. If you’re trying to bond with someone or a group that you’ve had poor interactions with in the past, you might want to try a few smaller, positive interactions before going all-in on a big question that might be rejected.
Consider why you were rejected
The Law Job Exchange suggests using rejection as an opportunity for self-reflection.
“The last thing we really want to do is thank the person and ask them for further criticism. However, I believe that in order to grow in this competitive job market, the search for criticism can show us something that sometimes we no longer see, ”it says.
When you ask a person for their opinion on why you were turned down, their response is likely to be a little unpleasant, but it is also an opportunity to know where you went wrong and gives you the opportunity to make some adjustments before you try again.