“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.