You’re being redirected not…rejected!
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, a very safe rock, chances are you’ve tasted rejection. It’s very bitter, tends to knock you out, sometimes for years, leaves you with a nasty after taste, which is usually pretty memorable. And if faced with a similar situation in the future, it can resurface powerfully and cause temporary paralysis in the new situation.
Yup, the effect of rejection is powerful. That’s why it is fondly referred to as the “pain of rejection”. Needless to say, as a trekkie committed to exploring new galaxies, I’ve swallowed my fair share of rejections and felt its sting many many times. My time to recovery has ranged from a few months to years, you will notice I have not said “days”, that’s because I have always taken rejection very personally and I have never learnt to deal with it in a way that I emerge unscathed.
However, through all the rejection- personal or professional - in hindsight there was one lesson which I learned the hard way. True, at the time I was facing rejection the sting was so sharp that I saw nothing but despair and felt nothing but a failure. But, through the years, as I matured and understood life a little better, I also realised that rejection is not a failure, it’s a re-direction to the right road, a better road which I had never imagined existed.
Let me illustrate, once upon a time I had an evil boss, thanks to her shenanigans, I quit in a huff and remained jobless for three whole months. However, as I job hunted without any success in my chosen field, I was offered an opportunity in an emerging field which I had never considered an option. But, because my back was to the wall I accepted it and found myself not only enjoying it far more than my older gig but success and advancements came much much faster and smoother. So, what I thought of as a failure, at that time, actually turned out to be the quicker road to career success. Now in hindsight I realise if I hadn’t faced that rejection I would have never been re-directed to greener pastures.
Life is fun that way, it comes shrouded in mystery with many twists and turns. And as humans, who use only 10% of our grey matter, we are able to see only five steps ahead of our intentions. But Life, as a higher intelligence, uses 100% of its grey matter, and sees all the zillion roads that lead to the manifestation of our intentions. And when it sees us playing small or not being true to our potential it removes us, gently or brutally, from our intended path and sets us on one which is far more fulfilling and befitting to our true potential.
This realisation hasn’t come easy and has come only in hindsight. But having made an appearance I now see rejection as a necessary re-direction, because the path I was pursuing to my goals is a dead-end which I was blissfully unaware of. But Life being aware of this came to my rescue at the right time to make sure I played to my full potential.
Being human and tied down with the twin baggage of needing to control our lives and limited vision. We find it hard to trust Life. And we take every rejection as a failure. But what we need to understand is that every time we create an intention and commit to it, we are only able to see a little of the road ahead. But, unknown to us there are an infinite number of ways to achieve our goals. The trick is to trust. Once we’ve committed to our goal, trust that we will get there, know that it will not be a straight road. Trust that Life will guide us whenever we veer off course. Know that every turn is leading us closer to our goal. Trust that Life knows all the answers and will let us know them when the time is right. And above all trust that Life has our back and is always gently (and sometimes not so gently) prodding us towards our most cherished dreams.