I started the new year off with a few rejection letters. Job and wriitng rejections are no strangers to me, neither are the rejections of unrequited love or of unwanted friendship. Last year was full of tons of rejection. I expect my future will be full of it as well. Although I am not immune to feelings of inadequacy, starting the new year in this way did not come with a sense of failure. Instead I was reminded of all the things that I tried last year and all of my pursuits. Last year was a journey to know myself better and to accept who I am. It was a journey in vulnerability. In that vulnerability I realized that rejection doesn’t mean failure and that it doesn’t have to crush my dreams. Those letters of rejection meant that I didn’t let fear stop me from pursuing something that I wanted. So I read not with dissappoinment but with a sense of triumph.

Rejection neither

friend nor an undoing of

my identity