Handling Rejection

I’m sorry but good luck next time.

Every veteran/amateur actor/actress has heard this line numerous times throughout their lives. For some, it has been their driving force that they will pave their own destiny and change the way people think of themselves and prove all those wrong who think they aren’t “suitable” for a specific role. For some, it becomes a demoralizing factor and they end up giving on their dreams and in extreme cases going as far as committing suicide (which we are here to stop).

You cannot let rejection bring your life to a screeching halt, because you are going to have lots of instances of rejection in your life (as everyone does). By moving on with your life and doing other things, you aren’t letting rejection ruin your life. Today we are going to be discussing how one can handle rejection because some people take drastic measures like suicide as the only resolve if they get rejected for their dream role.

Learn From Rejection

Studies suggest that rather than simply dealing with the pain of rejection, “mentally strong people ask themselves, ‘What did I gain from this?’ so they can learn from rejection” and turn the experience into an opportunity to self–growth. When you look at things this way, then every time you’re rejected is another learning opportunity.

Moreover, make sure to have an appropriate grieving period. You are going to feel upset because of a rejection. You are allowed to be upset about that, and, in fact, it’s healthy for you to give yourself some time to process and grieve.

Keep Your Odds in Mind

Know ahead of time what your odds are for success in a situation. While you can’t run actual numbers of whether you can ace that audition or not, if your audition taker expressed that he/she dislikes you in the past, you can guess that your chances aren’t very good.

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 to thank the person and ask them for further criticism. However, I believe that in order to grow within this competitive work market, seeking criticism may show us what sometimes we can’t see anymore,” it says.

When you ask for feedback from the person on why you were rejected their answer will likely sting a bit, but it’s also an opportunity for you to learn where you went wrong and gives you the opportunity to make some adjustments before you try again.

The friend you want is the one who will tell it to you straight. They can help you sort out what went wrong (if anything; sometimes there aren’t things you can change and you should just let it be). They can also make sure that you stay on track with your grieving period so that you don’t start wallowing.

Remember

Rejection isn’t your fault, per se. The other person (or people) was rejecting something particular that didn’t work for them. They were rejecting the request, not you.

They can’t reject you as a person because they don’t know you. For instance, even if you’ve gone on a few dates with someone, that doesn’t mean they know everything about you and are thus rejecting you as a person. They are rejecting a situation that doesn’t work for them. Respect that.

Finally, do not take rejection personally.

Remember that the rejection says nothing about you as a person. Getting rejected is part of life and it is not a personal attack. For whatever reason, the audition taker wasn’t interested in a particular thing.

 

Reference:
https://lifehacker.com/how-to-gracefully-deal-with-rejection-1818702428
https://www.wikihow.com/Handle-Rejection

Every time I thought I was being rejected from something good, I was actually being re-directed to something better ~  Dr.Steve Maraboli