My first taste of Rejection.. and why it was great

My first taste of Rejection…and why it was greatPhoto by Steve Johnson on Unsplash

First of all, gratitude to Kern for coming up with such a great idea. It is indeed a wonderful and very thoughtful way to help the writers, both very new and moderately new to not feel odd in such a huge world of already established writers.

I am new to Medium. I would not say I just started writing, but it has been on and off for me. So one day I wrote this random post, and to my surprise, it got curated and I was approached by one of the publications to publish the post with them. You can understand the happiness I was feeling in that moment. I mean for someone who has just had her friends praising her writing skills, critical approval from external people does feel so important. I felt I had just been awarded a golden star. I danced in my darkroom with no music, midnight. As crazy as it sounds.

So my aspirations got really high, and I wrote one more post, sent it to another publication with the belief that it too would get selected. Maybe I had started thinking really high of myself. Yeah, maybe that was true.

And there came my first rejection note.

“ Sorry, this one just doesn’t click.”

Wow!! It didn’t hurt, but the taste of rejection was awesome too. In two days, such a great leap, two entirely different emotions.

Acceptance feels like a blessing because rejection is on the other side of the swing.

And, optimistic as I am, I just said some inspiring words to myself.

For the first time in my life, I am coming out of my nest, learning to fly and finally pressing that Publish button. Needs courage, doesn’t it? The path might be rough, but the journey is going to be beautiful. And the anxiety in my heart is just proof that there is life in me. So, it is alright. It is alright to be anxious, to be restless, even to face rejection. Because plain is monotonous.

Rejection is what leads you to be better at whatever skill you are getting into. And it is an indication that soon you will meet the new you. Trust me, the feeling of meeting the new you is always bigger than anything else.

Showers of gratitude.

My first taste of Rejection.. and why it was great was originally published in C.R.Y on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.