Scared of Rejection?

Are you scared of rejection? Most people are, and it is a fear that can really get in the way of you living the life that you deserve. As long as you are scared of rejection, you will miss out on opportunities. As long as you are scared of rejection, you will miss out on great people, and maybe the love of your life. As long as you are scared of rejection, you won’t get the job you deserve. As long as you’re scared of rejection, you won’t be able to achieve your dreams.

It doesn’t matter what kind of a man or woman you are. There are men who have faced the battlefield and fought for their lives – yet, they can still be afraid of being rejected. There are women who have faced the pain of birth, yet, they’re afraid of being rejected.

It is kind of funny – because rejection isn’t something that hurts us physically or threatens our health. It’s not nearly as dangerous as jumping out of a flying airplane with a parachute – yet, there are lots of men and women who just do that, but many of them are still afraid of rejection.

How is it that such a seemingly harmless thing like rejection can trigger such deep fears?

One reason is that we are social animals. We depend on each other. And we have done so for millions and millions of years. We don’t live self-sufficient lives as hermits, but we are part of a larger society.

This was even more direct in the distant past, when we were living as hunter and gatherer tribes. Being part of a group was then literally necessary for survival. Your chances of living a long life where much slimmer if you went out on your own than when you were part of a group.

That may be one reason why we are so scared of rejection. Because if we got rejected by our tribe, we were all of the sudden on our own, cast out, and it might have literally been a death sentence.

And somehow, that has been transferred into modern day life. Think about it – one idiom when a woman rejects a man even goes: “She totally shut him down”.

We human beings have that strong desire to belong to a group. Even the person who calls himself a “loner” still identifies with someone, even though he might not desire to be part of the mainstream. We human beings are hardwired to be social and to connect with others.

It is true that being rejected can be hard on your self-esteem. But think of it as a kind of training – it strengthens you. Every time you get rejected, and you pick yourself up again and move on, it makes your stronger.

If you let your fear of rejection stop you from attempting things, one day you will look back onto your life and be full of regrets about all the things you missed out on, all the people whom you could have shared your life with, and when you compare the life that you could have had with the life that you have, you’ll feel bitter and your heart will be filled with remorse. Don’t let that happen. You deserve better. You don’t need to be scared of rejection anymore.