How to deal with rejection
We can’t control other people’s opinions of us. We CAN control our opinion of ourselves. And if we are doing the best we can do, we can also control how we present ourselves to other people.
A story by Tarla Lambert in Women’s Agenda about netballer Abbey McCulloch demonstrates this attitude.
As a teenager, after being rejected for teams many times, Abbey resorted to tears and tantrums and nearly gave up. But then: “I thought ‘oh well, if they’re not going to pick me, I’ll make them pick me.’
“The only way I knew I was going to get noticed was to work a little bit harder than the people around me. I missed out on a lot of teams and it was really disheartening, but I just kept at it, working away and eventually I got the phone call to come play for the QLD Firebirds. It was the opening that I really needed.”
Life being unfair as it is, I suppose it is natural to ask yourself ‘why SHOULD I work harder than everybody else?’ Yes, perhaps those others who got picked ahead of you have had unnatural advantages. That is all the more reason to work harder than they had to. You’re the real deal so you are out to EARN your place on the team.
“A rejection is nothing more than a necessary step on the path to success.” -Bo Bennett
Warren Heggarty
Lambert, Tarla “I’ll make them pick me”
womensagenda.com.au/uncategorised/ill-make-pick-abbey-mcculloch-rose-prominence/
