Yeh mere saath hi kyon hota hai? – chimes your heart and soul every time you face a rejection. Rejections are a part of life. Be it being rejected by a potential partner, friend, family or not landing that great job or not getting that well-deserved promotion, all of you have gone through rejection of some sort or the other. Sometimes you manage to come to terms with the situation in a matter of days. At other times, a rejection can leave you feeling dejected, angry and sad for long periods. If not dealt with the right way, these instances can have a serious impact on your mental and physical well-being.Â
If you have been trying to cope with a similar situation, we are here to help! Read on to find out how to deal with rejection from a guy, a friend or your dream organisation the right way.
4 Impacts Of Rejection On Mental Health
Rejection can leave people feeling like they are not valued, accepted or wanted. While some rejections resolve quickly, others may end up causing long-term effects on your mental wellbeing. These effects may include:
- Rejections that trigger extreme feelings may contribute to trauma. If you undergo multiple traumatic experiences owing to rejection in early life, you may develop extreme chronic fear of rejection.
- Rejection may also be linked to depression.
- Rejection often contributes to pre-existing stress and anxiety or may lead to the development of these conditions.
- Rejection may give rise to negative emotions like self-doubt and gravely impact your confidence.
Read Friendship & Mental Health: How To Be A Supportive Friend
7 Ways To Deal With Rejection
Here are a few strategies on how to deal with rejection without letting it have any long-term consequences on your mental well-being.Â
1. Take Your Time To Process Things
This is an important step in the process of how to deal with rejection from friends, guys, or at work. Feelings like anger, pain and hurt are the strongest in the immediate aftermath of rejection. It is only natural that your reaction will be guided by these negative emotions. To avoid things from getting bad to worse, take a step back. Take some time to calm down. Now, this does not mean you need to forget and move on immediately.
Take time to process everything and grieve. Get yourself in a headspace where you can analyse things and find out what went wrong. If you realise it was your fault that led to this, see how you can improve. If you feel the other person is to blame, work towards accepting things for what they are. Writing things down in a journal can help you process what you are feeling.
2. Do Not Isolate Yourself
The process of how to handle rejection the right way also includes making sure you don’t isolate yourself. Socialising is perhaps the last thing you want to do when you are feeling down and low. But this will only end up doing more harm than good. Get out and catch up with your friends or spend some quality time with your family. Talking about it with a loved one or a trusted friend will help take some load off your mind. This will also be a reminder that there are other things and people that make your life beautiful and your self-worth is not based on one rejection.
3. Indulge In Self-Care
Wondering how to deal with rejection from a guy? This is what you need to do. Being rejected can end up making you question your self-worth. Instead of going down that slippery slope of self-doubt, take this opportunity to remind yourself how special you are! Indulge in some much-deserved self-care! Take to exercising and running or practising yoga or meditation. These activities can help you get in the right mental space to think about the situation clearly. Be it baking, cooking, painting or dancing, do anything that helps you feel good and calm.
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4. Positive Self-Talk And Self-Affirmations
Defeat your inner critique through positive self-talk. Keep reminding yourself that one rejection does not define your worth. Instead of overthinking failures, remind yourself of all the times you have succeeded…of all the things you are good at. This will help you in focusing on better things rather than clinging to negative thoughts.
You can even try writing down things you are good at, thankful for or feel blessed to have in your life. Start your day on a positive note by reading them out loud each morning. Positive self-affirmations will remind you who you really are and keep away self-doubt.
5. Seek Help
If you cannot figure out how to handle rejection on your own, seek help. Even the strongest of people often find themselves in situations that they cannot deal with on their own. And asking for help is perfectly okay! If you are unable to think clearly and get out of the emotional rut by yourself, seek the help of a counsellor. A professional can equip you with the tools you need to navigate through this emotional crisis and emerge stronger on the other side. Having a steady hand to guide you through the healing process will certainly make things easier for you!
6. Learn From Your Experiences
Dealing with job rejection or any other type of failure is difficult, but it can also prove to be a great opportunity for self-growth. Once you feel calmer and grounded, ask yourself what lessons you can take away from the whole experience. Each rejection is a chance to learn something either about yourself or about how the world works. Let rejection be your wake-up call to make some much-needed changes in your life.Â
7. Remember To Be Kind To Yourself
In the aftermath of rejection, it is highly likely for people to blame themselves for whatever happened and be a little too hard on themselves. However, this will only make you feel worse. Instead of dwelling on negative emotions, try to analyse the situation more objectively. See if there is anything you can learn from this experience. #BeALittleMore kind and compassionate to yourself. While it’s great to be able to understand and accept your mistakes, do not beat yourself up by overthinking.
Rejections can be tough on your mental well-being. But if seen in the right light, they can prove to be the best teachers in life. Learning how to deal with rejection in love or other aspects of life the right way is how you move forward to better things. All the best!
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