Rejection is a bitch. A big one. She’s one of those friends you try to keep at arm’s distance because you know she can’t be trusted. But she still has access to all the hot parties and coolest people, so you allow yourself to go along for the ride. Sometimes, you let your guard down and convince yourself she’s “not so bad.” But she’ll always betray you in the end.
Rejection is a drama queen. If things aren’t about her, she’ll make them about her. And when she’s not getting the attention she thinks she deserves, boy does she let you have it. And when Rejection lashes out at you, duck for cover! She’ll always go for the jugular and ensure that you are made to feel as shitty as she wants you to feel.
You are always a little uneasy about the information you share with Rejection. From petty embarrassments to deeper insecurities, you never know when the information you provide will be thrown back in your face. She swears that your secrets are safe with her, but you’ve heard her talk about other people so many times that you are always on edge. Somehow she manages to get the goods anyway. She’s great at prying for information.
Rejection has one hell of a jealous streak. She’s that friend who, when you come home from summer camp, always wants to know everything about the people you met and connected with there. She’ll trash them so thoroughly and repeatedly that you’ll start to believe her. That really cool kid that you had a great time with, but who lives on the other side of the country? When rejection is done messing with your head, you’ll be convinced he was a bully and user who only hung out with you because of the copious amounts of Pop Rocks in all of your care packages.
Rejection lies. A lot! She’ll tell you that someone said you were fat, unattractive, not successful enough, super annoying and that you smell like cheese. Even if the other person simply said they thought the jeggings you wore on Friday made your ass look lumpy.
Unfortunately, Rejections is also a family friend that you grew up with and have known your whole life. You may successfully avoid her for years. But the threat of running into her at a family party or seeing a Facebook update is always present. When she does reenter your life, it’s always like a hurricane. Only someone who knows you as well as she does can get under your skin like that.
In other words, Rejection is an inevitable presence in your life. As such, she’s sort of useful. Sure, you may want to bash your head against a wall for weeks after running into her. But once you’ve calmed down and put things in context, some of Rejection’s lessons can be useful.
It’s useless to stay mad at her. That’s sort of what the ol’ drama queen wants anyway. The best way to handle it is to take a breath, think it through and then move on. After all…
