Fear of Rejection

Posted by Jamie Barrows on June 17th, 2008 | Tags: , , , , ,

I was listening to a CD by Fort Minor the other day. (If you haven’t heard their music, you should check it out. They’re pretty good.) The last track on the CD is called “Out the Back.” One particular phrase from the track really caught my attention.
It goes like this,

“Slip out the back before they knew you were there, and at the worst you’ll see nobody cares.”

The reason it caught my attention was that it really fits my first reaction to any situation where I’m afraid of other people’s reactions. Especially when that fear is of rejection. It somehow seems better to discover that no one cared that I wasn’t there, than to be rejected.
But is it really better? How many opportunities have I missed because I was afraid of being rejected? Friends, jobs, relationships, the list goes on and on. Why is rejection from a stranger or a passing acquaintance such a big deal for me? Is my self worth so low that a rejection from a person or group that I will probably never see again really going to destroy me?
Sure rejection hurts, but it really isn’t going to hurt me that much long term. Certainly no worse than the discovery that no one cared like the song said.

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