The Closed Door
Wringing my hands together, I approached the tack room with trepidation. It’s never a good sign to be called for a private chat after a lesson.
“Look, you’re a great person and should keep practicing, but with my name on the insurance, I can’t let you play in Winters,” oof, a punch to the gut. I thanked Coach T for the lesson and drifted back towards the car with the other girls. They would spend the upcoming weekend competing against schools across the UK, while I would be… looking for other plans.
Rejection is easy to take personally. The sour sound of the two-letter word “no” is enough to send anyone down a rabbit hole of negativity and self-doubt. When you spend a significant amount of effort pursuing an experience, it’s easy to fall into the trap of idealization; we have high hopes for what we imagine an experience will feel like, then feel deflated when that experience fails to match reality. Psychologists call this gap between expectations and reality ‘cognitive dissonance’, which explains why rejection feels especially disappointing when opportunities disappear that we once thought were certain.
The topic of rejection feels especially relevant now, as we enter the job recruitment season after a series of deeply uninspiring hiring projections. This carries across industries, where even those outside the corporate sector are projected to face higher rates of rejection than the year prior. Take the academic landscape as an example: it has become increasingly competitive as shrinking research budgets necessitate more rejections of grant proposals in higher education. As a fall 2026 graduate, I’m certain I’ll receive dozens more thanks-but-no-thanks emails, and I’ve come to accept it. Though as we face rejection both in the job market and daily life, there are things we can do to turn these rejections into redirections.
Seeking Rejection
Research suggests sharing stories of struggles or shortcomings can strengthen interpersonal connections, but just how many would you be willing to share? While rejection was once embarrassing or seen as a sign of failure, it has since been rebranded as a gateway to personal growth.
Rejection spreadsheets were originally shared online by job seekers documenting the long road to employment, but in the early weeks of 2026, an alternative use emerged and quickly gained traction. The search phrase ‘Seeking Rejection’ went viral as TikTok user Gabriella Carr created the ‘1000 Rejection Challenge,’ where she aimed to receive 1000 “no’s” to take the sting out of rejection in her daily life. Coming up with a thousand opportunities required quite a bit of creativity, and the results led to outcomes both positive and surprising. Aside from the hundreds of noes, Carr received some worthwhile yeses including brand deals, a pageant title, and most notably Dutch citizenship. Her social experiment inspired others to move beyond New Year’s Resolutions, instead aiming for opportunities previously thought out of reach.
The Open Door
In a similar manner as the individuals seeking rejection, I made a list of experiences I never thought possible, and have promised myself to attempt each before graduation. Polo was the first on this list, and I’m proud of myself for trying (and sticking with) a sport I was completely new to.
As for my weekend plans? I was lucky to cross a different experience off my list by attending the 2026 Winter Olympics. Finding something new to do at the same time redirected my thoughts toward new opportunities and afforded me an experience I never would have pursued otherwise.
Sometimes rejection sets us on a different path from the one we planned, but it is up to each of us to decide where we go from there.