So you put yourself out there, and the world slapped you in the face with a big, fat “no.”
We’ve all experienced it, yet in the moments following a rejection, you feel like you’ve taken the Downward Spiral Express to rock bottom and the population is you.
You want to direct your anger at everything else: the employer who didn’t hire you, the boy who didn’t like you…
…or maybe even a stranger on the street (or inanimate objects, if you’re feeling really crazy).
But in the end, you only feel angry at yourself.
Your efforts were ultimately wasted, and you feel like the whole journey of “trying” and “believing” was actually just Big Brother’s sick ploy to crush your hopes and dreams.
Whoever made up the saying “do your best” is seriously messed up, because now you realize that even your best was not good enough.
The worst part is that you have to face the reality of living without the thing you wanted so badly…
…which sucks, because you imagined a life in which things worked out in your favor.
You wallow in your sorrows while your friends try to comfort you and tell you everything is going to be okay (though you insist it won’t be).
There are fleeting moments when you think you might be healing…
…but then you overanalyze the rejection and want to get away from everything.
For a while, your daily ritual consists of eating Nutella straight from the jar and curling up in your bed in the dark.
Your days are filled with spontaneous crying sessions and melodramatic declarations of your surrender, or, as you like to put it, how you “just can’t anymore.”
When you get over the constantly angry/mopey/crazy phase, you live your life as a newly hardened woman with a slight disregard for consequences.
You walk around under a rain cloud, confused by how anyone could be happy in a world like this.
And while you exude a bitter calmness, sometimes the littlest things set you off.
Though it’s a slow process…
…you know time heals all wounds, and you’ll bounce back from this rejection one way or another.
It usually happens when you set your eyes on your next conquest…
…and forget about the potential disappointment that comes with chasing something you want.
Because once you set your sights on your new target, there’s no talking you out of it.
You aren’t discouraged by an unsuccessful past and instead use it as motivation for the next challenge. It’s a vicious cycle, really.
But you play along like it’s what you were born to do…
…which annoys all your friends, because you were a sobbing mess one minute and now you’re all smiles.
But what fun is life without the dreams and the chase?
So don’t give up, collegiettes. Keep at it and you’ll have your day.
Because everyone has to play in the mud a little before they strike gold.