Rejection is a Redirection

How many times do you get rejected before you realize it?

We're all going to experience rejection at some point in our lives. Anyone who is living a life full of possibility will experience rejection over and over again. Every so often, you might find yourself in the unfortunate position of being rejected. And your first instinct is probably to beat yourself up over it. Why didn't I get it? What am I good for? Am I just not good enough?

No matter how well you present yourself, no matter what you do to earn the love and approval of others, there will be times you're left empty handed. As you face rejection in your life, it can be challenging to stay positive—and we get that. You've been working hard toward your goal and you've made a lot of progress. So when something doesn't go your way, it's tempting to get discouraged and view the rejection as a comment on your worth.

When you get rejected from an opportunity, it can feel like the wind is knocked out of you. You may start to question how valuable you are as a person, or perhaps even decide that it's just not possible to be successful. The trick is, if you get too bogged down in acceptance—in the need for approval—you won't be able to keep your eyes open long enough to see all the new opportunities coming your way.

First of all, I want you to know something: rejection is not a reflection on you or what you're capable of. Rejection is a signal that whatever you're pursuing isn't in alignment with your purpose. You might have been rejected because another opportunity was waiting for you. You might have been rejected because you were meant to be on a different path. And you might have learned something from the rejection.

We know rejection is a part of the human experience, and many of us have experienced it. But we also know that our positive experiences outweigh the negative ones. And we've seen how important it is to learn from rejection—both the good and bad parts. Rejection is a signal to your heart that you're headed in the wrong direction.

Rejection is a redirection. Isn't that a comforting thought?

Though it might not seem like it at first, it's true! When you take time to reflect on the opportunities you've been given so far in life, you'll likely find that every one of them has led you closer and closer to where you're meant to be.

You might not understand rejection in the moment, but if you take some time to think about it, you can usually find the silver lining. Think about it this way: rejection is simply a "no" for now, but it's not necessarily a "no" forever. And think about how many times you've said "no" only to realize that "no" was never actually what you wanted or needed? You can't let someone else's "no" dictate your ability to say "yes" when the right opportunity comes along!

And that's why rejection is so powerful: it re-directs your energy toward creating new opportunities for yourself, rather than wasting time on something that wasn't right for you anyway. It's only a redirection if you allow yourself to accept that this was not meant for you.  Because if you are focused on getting every single thing you want, you will miss out on what you really need. You'll miss out on the opportunities that would really change your life for the better because you're too busy obsessing over the ones that didn't pan out—or sometimes even over ones that never existed in the first place!

There's this quote I read once: "If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door." It's so true! Always remember that you're totally good enough. This rejection isn't about YOU. It's just a redirection of your path toward what is meant for YOU—something even better than what you lost out on. If you can learn to be grateful for the opportunities you DO get instead of mourning the ones you don't, your life will open up to so much more abundance!

So if you find yourself disappointed by an outcome, remember that there are so many other opportunities out there waiting for you—you just have to keep pushing forward!