{"id":23266,"date":"2013-12-12T22:32:22","date_gmt":"2013-12-13T06:32:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/?p=23266"},"modified":"2013-12-12T22:32:22","modified_gmt":"2013-12-13T06:32:22","slug":"reject-rejection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/reject-rejection\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Reject Rejection"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

I remember it well.\u00a0 Our assignment had been to write a speech about our greatest fear and read it aloud to the class.\u00a0 Student after student spoke, and after all the speeches were delivered, one thing was very evident in my mind: nearly everyone fears rejection.<\/p>\n

I am no exception.\u00a0 I feared rejection just as much as the next person.\u00a0 Yet, this was a major problem for me.\u00a0 I was in one of the worst possible fields to have a fear of rejection.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Well, I was a writer.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve loved writing ever since I was five years old and I have dreamed about being a published author for years.\u00a0\u00a0 However, becoming published meant having to submit.\u00a0 And having to submit oftentimes meant being rejected.<\/p>\n

Take my novel, for example.\u00a0 It\u2019s a smallish piece of historical fiction that mixes romance with Greek myths with conspiracy theory. It took me over a year to both write and edit it, and then several more months to track down publishing companies that were accepting unsolicited authors (since I didn\u2019t have an agent).\u00a0 It was a massive amount of work, and it translated into many sleepless nights since I am a full-time college student also.\u00a0\u00a0 When the time to submit came, I wrote a seemingly unending amount of cover letters and sent them off.\u00a0 Then I waited.\u00a0 And I waited some more.\u00a0 Finally, after several more months, the letters came.\u00a0\u00a0 One by one, they trickled in.\u00a0 And one by one, I was rejected again\u2026and again\u2026and again.\u00a0 Each time I ripped open a new letter, it felt as though my heart had been ripped open also.\u00a0 I had submitted to thirty publishing houses, and ultimately, I was rejected over thirty times.<\/p>\n

Naturally, I became really discouraged and almost somewhat depressed, but my dad encouraged me to hang in there.\u00a0 It was later that month that, while I was checking my email, my gaze froze.\u00a0 I had a new message with the heading, \u201cContract Offer.\u201d<\/p>\n

I wanted to cry out or straight up cry.\u00a0 After six months of rejection, I was finally accepted.\u00a0\u00a0 My novel, Labyrinth of Lies<\/em>, was to be published! And as of December 2, 2013 it was released to the public.\u00a0 After fifteen years of dreaming, plotting, and writing, I am finally a real author.<\/p>\n

Rejection is a part of life, but we can\u2019t let it control us.\u00a0 If you have a goal, strive for it with all of your heart and don\u2019t you dare hold back.\u00a0 Don\u2019t stop just because you\u2019re rejected. It\u2019s true that we will probably fail a few times before we succeed, but we can\u2019t let our fear of failure doom us to just that: failure.\u00a0 I feared rejection, but I learned something that helped. Fears are like shadows.\u00a0 Both are dark and both are scary, but neither can actually hurt us.\u00a0\u00a0 They only have as much power as we grant them.\u00a0 Sometimes, the possibility of rejection isn\u2019t a shadow.\u00a0 Sometimes, rather, it\u2019s a very real possibility.\u00a0 Yet, through my own personal experience, I\u2019ve found that the fear is more potent than the possibility of actually failing.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because it’s just like a shot.\u00a0 Rejection only lasts for a moment, and then you move on. You pick yourself up and keep trying.<\/p>\n

I learned something else too.\u00a0 I discovered the difference between goals and dreams. Dreams are good, but goals are better.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because fairy godmothers are figments of fairytales and dreams don\u2019t make themselves come true, but if we can set a goal and take steps toward reaching it, then maybe we’ll one day watch those goals become reality.<\/p>\n

This said, we must reject rejection.\u00a0 Just how does one reject rejection? Sometimes we have to re-examine our motivations behind our actions. If our goal is to be accepted and well liked, it\u2019s almost like giving someone else control over our lives. We can\u2019t let other people rule our lives. \u00a0\u00a0We have to live them.<\/i>\u00a0 And the only person who can reject your rejections is you.<\/em><\/p>\n

So, if you have a dream stashed somewhere in your back pocket, turn it into a goal.\u00a0 Write it down, make a plan, and start working toward its completion.\u00a0 Unless you have some source of superhuman good luck, you will probably find yourself faced with many kinds of challenges, setbacks, and rejections, but you just have to work past it. People might think you are crazy\u2014in fact, many of them probably will.\u00a0 However, they aren\u2019t responsible for living your life. The responsibility for seeing your goal succeed or fail ultimately rests on you. So don\u2019t lose heart and don\u2019t give up, because someday, just maybe, if you keep at it long enough, the rejections will end.<\/p>\n

Hannah Lokos is an author and a full-time college student (biology major). Her novel, Labyrinth of Lies<\/em>, was released by Champagne Book Group on December 2, 2013, and is currently available on Amazon<\/a>. You can connect with Hannah through Facebook, Twitter, or her website: www.hannahlokos.com. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am no exception. I feared rejection just as much as the next person. Yet, this was a major problem for me. I was in one of the worst possible fields to have a fear of rejection. Why? Well, I was a writer. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12163,"featured_media":23269,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[205,45,9,17,34,112,31,1859,23],"tags":[464,4653,406,91,318,3456,66,3453,2157,207,492,4629,4640,4636],"yoast_head":"\nHow To Reject Rejection - Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We all face rejection at one time or another. That is not the question. 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