Rejection is a Redirection

“Rejected! Rejected! Yeah, you just got rejected. R-E-J-E-C-T-E-D, rejected!” are the words my sister and I would taunt each other with whenever one of us got, well, rejected. The words from Nickelodeon’s Zoey 101 stuck with me into young adulthood, harboring memories of laughter and good fun. I didn’t always, however, think fondly of rejections in my life. 

Whether they were rejections from friends when you didn’t receive an invite to their birthday party, rejections from crushes after I bore my soul and had already dreamed up a reality where they said yes, or rejections from schools (cough, cough, Boston University), my ego always took a blundering blow. When I was finally able to dry my tears, fan away the dark clouds that clouded my self perception, and sit up straight, I couldn’t help but to wonder… What would my life have been like if I’d gone to that birthday party? If my crush had actually said yes, or if I’d gone to Boston University? Sure, I would have gotten what I wanted, but would I have gotten what I needed? I needed friends who cherished my presence, a boyfriend who would like me for my quirks, and a school that wanted me as their first choice. 

Junior year was a pivotal year for me; I grew out of friendships I thought would last me beyond Bucknell, I crashed out, burned some bridges, and crashed out even more. I got rejected from my dream study abroad program. A loved one passed. I started to skip classes and ultimately, fell out of alignment with myself. A steady flow of rejection from the things I wanted made my world feel like it had completely spun out of orbit. I struggled to put together a new version of myself and despite that year being a dark time for me mentally, with my desire to give up everything, I kept going. While the nights and especially days were hard, soon, I was able to think of people, places, and words exchanged in a softer manner. Life began to feel lighter as I reminded myself, with the help of numerous self-help podcast episodes, facetimes with my sister, and venting sessions with my best friends, that everything happens for a reason. I had yet to see the reason until nearly a year later. 

If I hadn’t trekked through the dog days of junior year, I wouldn’t have pledged AOML to Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., made the Dean’s List Fall 2024, met my best friends who genuinely care for me and appreciate my quirks, nor made some of the best memories I’ll laugh back on. Every rejection has led me to this moment today; where I sit typing this from the bed of my apartment supplied by my dream study abroad program. The universe has a plan, you just have to be receptive to it. 

As a 20-something-year-old, I can look back as well as look forward and see that: rejection is often redirection. With each heart breaking “No,” I was veered back onto the correct life path that was meant for me in this time and place.