They said no, so what?
For many of us, rejection is a terrible thing, and for that reason, we live our lives in fear of it. For me, I can honestly share that sometimes I’m so afraid of rejection that it stops me in my tracks before I even try. I accept defeat even before the beginning of my journey, because in my head, someone somewhere just might turn me down.
Note that I said “might” and not “will” because it’s never certain whether I will be turned down; I just anticipate it and steer clear as a result.
Lately, I’ve been determined to tackle this fear of mine. I have found out that it is silly and counter-productive at best, and an absolute hindrance to my progress. So what if I’m turned down? So what if someone tells me, “No!”? It’s neither a death sentence nor a permanent failure. At the very worst, it is a brief blockade on my journey’s path and all I have to do is change direction and take a detour to get to my ultimate destination.
The very existence of this media company, Face2FaceAfrica, is a testament to the fact that only one “Yes” is what is necessary to begin an amazing journey. Imagine how many positive revolutions would never have happened if ordinary people did not throw caution to the wind and move forward in spite of all the rejections they received along the way.
If what you desire deeply is positive and has the potential to inspire positive change in yourself or others; if what you dream about is so big that you just think it can’t succeed; if you’re feeling weary because you’ve received so many “No’s” that you doubt you’ll ever hear “Yes”, know this: if you stop now, you just might be walking away from the most amazing opportunity of your life. So what if they tell you “No”! You’ll be exactly where you were before you started.
You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. The essense of life is to keep trying, and to try different methods when one way doesn't seem to work, but to quit, especially because of fear of rejection, is to defeat oneself.