Most of us want to avoid rejection. Did you know that fear of rejection can hold you back from the life you dream about?
Fear of rejection is so common that it seems normal. Can you even imagine being comfortable with rejection?
What would you do if you knew you couldn’t be rejected?
Read on to find out more.
How did this fear of rejection get started?
Rejection can start early in life, sometimes before you are able to form cognitive memories. You may not have a memory of the first time that you were rejected. When this happens feeling rejected has always been true for you.
Every baby is not always welcomed into the world. Perhaps your family had financial problems and you were another mouth to feed. Maybe your parents weren’t emotionally prepared for the responsibility of a baby.
Maybe you weren’t the baby your family expected. A client of mine was the fourth girl in her family. Her father was so sure she would be a boy that when she was born he felt disappointed. She wasn’t the baby her family wanted. Of the four girls she was the only one who struggled with relationship and financial problems.
In her book, E-Squared: Nine Do-It-Yourself Energy Experiments That Prove Your Thoughts Create Your Reality (2013), Pam Grout tells us the story of the first time her father saw her. He said she was “the ugliest baby he had ever seen.” This set Pam up for a long struggle with her looks.
Both of these people were able to overcome this early programming. You can, too.
How the world rejects you
Even if you managed to be welcomed into the world with love, there are many more opportunities to experience rejection.
Your parents may have punished you for being yourself. Maybe you were too energetic, too loud, or you made too many messes. Other children didn’t like you. You were excluded, teased, or bullied.
Teachers are another source of rejection. They don’t recognize your talents, your uniqueness, or your creativity. As a child you trusted other people’s opinions more than your own.
As an adult you can be rejected by romantic partners, friends, employers, and even family members. This just reinforces the rejection you felt as a child.
Life can seem like a constant source of rejection.
What can you do?
At the start of this post, I asked, “What would you do if you know you couldn’t be rejected?” Have you thought about this question?
I have a new question: “What if you didn’t fear rejection?”
People are going to reject you, but you do not need to experience fear when they do. It is simply their opinion, not your truth.
How can you become immune to the fear of rejection?
With the poetry of emotion process, you can release all of the past painful emotions associated with rejection. You can even release emotions created before you were old enough to make cognitive memories. Start with the earliest rejections and watch what happens as you become free.
When this past fear is gone, you have no need to fear future rejection. You can trust yourself to know your truth. You are bullet proof.
What are you going to do when you are free from the fear of rejection? Leave a comment below and share your ideas.
Click on “Are you new to the site?” to get started now. The fear of rejection does not need to hold you back.
(Image: Edd Sowden @ Flickr)
