If you ask any celebrity, politician, or billionaire, they all seem to tell the same story–you need to have your lows before you can have your highs. There will be so many rejection letters and people telling you “no” before you finally get a “yes” and start your climb up the capitalist ladder. Senior year of high school is where most people get their first, real taste of rejection and disappointment in the form of college rejection letters. Although they might not get into their #1 choice, most students usually still end up going to their 2nd choice or the school that ends up being their perfect match. Then, in college, rejections and failures are felt left and right by you and your peers: failed tests, break ups, rejections from internships and jobs.
The taste of failure permeates the air around college campuses. Sometimes, especially in this age of social media, it can be so easy to compare yourselves to others; maybe your roommate got their dream internship and you didn’t, or you didn’t do so well on a test everyone else seemed to ace. Platforms like LinkedIn and Instagram were made to showcase all of the great things that people are doing and accomplishing, and when you are in a rut or feeling down about your life, these platforms can feed into those insecurities and make you feel so much worse than you already did.
This post on LinkedIn that popped onto my feed inspired me to write this article. Truthfully, social media can be a bust; people will post pictures and make it seem as though they are having the time of their lives, when in reality it is all fake and staged. You can’t believe much you see on there. People are just showing you a sliver of what their life is really like, and you need to realize there is so much more going on that you will never know about.
Honestly, being rejected sucks; it really, really sucks. Not being recognized for all of the hard work you put into something, whether it be a club, job, or just academics in general, is not a good feeling. When you are in these dark places, and thinking about all of the negatives, always try to remind yourself of the positives in your life. For me, I always remember that at least I am in college. There are so many people who would love an education and have to fight so much harder for it, and some that cannot afford it and are forced to drop out or work several jobs just to maintain their position. I have people in my life that love and support me endlessly and know the hard work I put into everything that I do. They recognize and appreciate my strengths and help build up my weaknesses. The other thing to remember is that there can and should always be a Plan B, a backup plan for when you don’t quite get to where you wanted to be. Sure, maybe you didn’t get that dream internship, but you might have a job or two that will make you tons of money over the summer. Take a deep breath, remember all of the good things you have in life, and figure out how you are going to get to where you need to be. You might need to take an extra step or two to get there than you originally planned, but that just means finally getting that job will be that much better.