Who says rejection kills your confidence? Rejection may not be a heartening thing but it has a positive side. Designer Wendell Rodricks recently revealed in an interview that rejection proved a boon in his life, and made him stronger and more determined to succeed. He said, “When I got into fashion, Indian high fashion was brightly coloured silk with embroidery. When I put my minimalist statement on racks in linen, cotton, asymmetric hemlines, the buying public rejected the idea, but two years later when everyone was romancing the asymmetric hemline, I had the last laugh.”
Everybody faces rejection at some point in life. Many record labels rejected the Beatles. In a famous rejection, a label said, “Guitar groups are on the way out” and “the Beatles have no future in show business”. But then that is how Einstein cracked the greatest problems in physics, Stephen King, whose first book Carrie was rejected 30 times, sold more than 350 million copies of his books, and how every noteworthy achievement in the world came about.
Rejection sends you in a tailspin, and forces you to see life in a new light and reevaluate your abilities, says Manish Gaur, a freelance photographer. “There’s nothing pleasant about taking the flak, and the immediate effects of rejection are shattered confidence and self-esteem. But then, those who really want to achieve something, pick up the pieces after some time and come at it with renewed energy.”
“Initially when my manuscript got rejected a number of times, I used to despair but then I realised that wasn’t the way out. Getting myself motivated for internal change, I strategised to find more creative ways to position the story to prospective publishers. The trick worked and I had three publishers shortlisting the manuscript,” says an author who doesn’t want to be named.
Rejection can surely trigger a strong resolve in people to work harder and find new ways to deal with the issue. Blogger Ashtha Vashishth explains that rejection prompts a person to introspect and find out possible reasons why his ideas don’t find acceptance. “A rejected mind tends to take the solitary path which is often the bedrock of innovative ideas. It keeps pushing till it reaches fruition,” she says.