These last couple of weeks I’ve been rejected.
I applied for a busines scholarship and a business affiliate position and got turned down for both. While only one could get the scholarship, many got offered the affiliate scheme, so seeing them talking about how happy they were, was difficult.
It raised all the ‘I’m not enough’ thoughts and feelings. It made me question what was wrong with me. It made me look back at the past.
Looking back was not a good idea, because it reinforced my feelings. For 11 years, I was a secondary teacher and in that time, every colleague surpassed me through promotions and extra responsibility. The message that I took from this was that I wasn’t a good teacher and didn’t have the skills or abilities to go further.
Since then, I have been rejected for other roles in my business and in other jobs. Each time it has happened, I have wondered what others have that I don’t and what is wrong with me.
Rejection hurts.
A couple of years ago, I would have been stuck in this hurt, focusing on how many times have I been rejected and feeling worthless. It would have been a downward circle that would have sucked my motivation and spirit.
However, since working on myself, especially my self-love, I have come to learn that someone else’s judgement of me, doesn’t change me. If I had been promoted, praised or accepted, I would have still been me. And being turned away, I’m still me.
Those who have rejected me, don’t really know me. My family and closest friends are the ones that really know me and they haven’t rejected me, even when times are tough. Those that have, aren’t close to me and don’t actually matter to me.
I believe that I am enough. I am enough for my family. I am enough to be able to support them. I am enough for myself.
Once we love and accept ourselves, we aren’t as affected by others’ opinions of us. (I’m not going to say that we aren’t affected at all because rejection still hurts, but we aren’t stuck there.)
When we have self-love, it reduces the impact that others have on us and enables us to feel a deeper contentment.
I am enough. I am lovable. Can you say those things to yourself today and really mean it?