The Rejection Decision

The R Word

Rejection—the big disappointment. Everyone goes through many of these in life. Remember the Emotions Scale discussed in Keep Your Eye on the Prize and Hold On To Your Hat? The big challenge of rejection is to ‘re-boot,’ which means pulling out of the -10 area on the Emotions Scale (shame, guilt, depression, high anxiety) while refraining from acting out any feelings of anger and revenge directed toward others, like counselors and admissions officers. It also means accepting this new reality, overcoming fear of the unknown, and looking to the future with optimism and courage. You have the rest of life’s game to play; ‘give it all you got!’ Here is wisdom from Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant, the University of Alabama’s “winningness” coach in the school’s history: ‘Don’t give up at halftime. Concentrate on winning the second half.’