That's what I said to myself through many months of summer as a face-to-face fundraiser and the intense stress from a year's job seeking. Both are a strikingly similar experience - where you're faced with a large amount of rejection, which is never easy to take.
As soon as the disappointing and heart-breaking word comes out, either from a person towards whom you just confessed your feelings or a recruiter where you strive tirelessly and almost naively to impress, it hits you in the heart and takes you to a place of self-doubt and self-criticism - your good-old friends. Rejection, no matter what kind, tastes all the same - like personal hell.
This year, I made a resolution to cultivate a positive mindset and I have been sticking to it through all the chaos of January and February. However, in the fleeting moments of piercingly cold rejection, my hard-earned positive spirit vanished. Told you, it's not easy. I was at a point where I was ready to take everything personally, sorely irritated by the random daily annoyances. After being consumed by confusion, disappointment and resentment, I simply could not find energy to give a shit. That's when the potent and straight-forward thought slaps me in the face: It's just another "No". So what?
Back when I was a facer, we usually talked about our day, celebrating each other's victories and sharing each other's defeats. It's sort of a ritual. So on a normal work day, I asked my colleague how his day was. He said laughingly, "It has been so low that it can only go up from here." And no one can relate to this as well as a facer with the pressure of a daily target.
Once you have heard so many "No" (plural) in just four hours, it does not matter anymore. It's just another "No", no matter who they are or what are the excuses behind it. It does not have any meaning to you, it does not have power over you, it does not define who you are and what you are and will be capable of. You just accept it and move on.
It's just another "No".
And that'll be how we keep going in life - fiercely and relentlessly.
Stay strong and be kind, Vy.
