Healthy ways to handle rejection

Rejection is inevitable in all our lives - here's how to deal with it.

Neve Sillito
22nd May 2023
Image credit: Pixabay
As much as it can feel like one of the worst feelings in the world, facing rejection is something that everyone goes through at some stage of their life. Whether it's through jobs, relationships or friendships, rejection can be a painful and lasting experience, perhaps a feeling that many fear having again. It's important to recognise that these feelings are natural and can be coped with in a healthy way.

When facing rejection, taking a step back and validating your feelings is important. Giving yourself some designated time to acknowledge and understand why you feel pain is the first step in a healthy recovery. Understand that it is normal to feel sad or embarrassed! Confronting and sitting with these feelings for a few hours is much more productive than pretending you don’t care. Take some time out of your day to practise some self-care, a long walk or time spent with loved ones can help you rationalise these feelings and understand why this situation has upset you. Sure, you might just feel like wallowing in these feelings, but be careful to not spend too long feeling sorry for yourself.

taking a step back and validating your feelings is important

Once you have accepted the feelings that come with rejection, it is important to understand that it is temporary. The age-old cliché of ‘everything happens for a reason’ may make you cringe inside, but it is often true. Rejection allows for redirection! Understand that things don’t work out because they make room for new opportunities. Perhaps you would have been offered the job and hated it or went on that date and had a terrible time. The key to coping with rejection is patience, and having the self-confidence and knowledge that things will work out how they are meant to, even if that looks different from how you imagined.

things will work out how they are meant to, even if that looks different from how you imagined

It's easy to envisage our future to look a certain way, but facing rejection can allow you to see a bigger picture and open up more opportunities. It's easy to visualise your future on a specific path, but rejection allows you to be open to new possibilities and opportunities. Believing in your capabilities and understanding that rejection makes way for something more meaningful to you, is a key healthy coping mechanism for facing rejection.

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