Cheering up from Rejection

[Amayan]

I've received two very devastating rejections the past fortnite (for Creative Writing: Poetry), and have really struggled to cheer up from the possibility that I will not gain acceptance anywhere.  The negatives swirling in my mind tend to circle:

 

1)  Did you just spend $800 and an entire month of wages to be told no one wants you? 

2)  Did you just spend 4 months of your time furiously writing the most soulful SOP you could manage only to have it be received poorly? 

3)  Did you just spend 4 months working and reworking the very best poetry you are capable only to be told it isn't worthy?

4)  Are you prepared to have people you admire, who currently hold your dream job, tell you that you aren't good enough to do what they do?

5)  How are you going to explain to your recommenders that you didn't get in?  Your family?  Your friends?

 

This, along with the discovery that my mom has already planned a surprise party for my acceptance despite my wishes (I saw the "You did it!" streamers in her van), I am getting scared.

 

It took me a while to compose myself, and I just wanted to try starting a thread we could fill with posts that cheer people up from being or possibly being rejected universally by all programs applied for.

 

This is my go to most effective cheer-up:

 

and, lastly, these:

 

http://www.literaryrejections.com/best-sellers-initially-rejected/

 

Good luck everyone - I wish you get the good news your hoping for!

[grad_wannabe]

these rejection letters are glorious. 

 

“I recommend that it be buried under a stone for a thousand years.” Shunned by all the major publishers, the author goes to France and lands a deal with Olympia Press. The first 5000 copies quickly sell out. But the author Vladimir Nabokov now sees his novel, Lolita, published by all those that initially turned it down, with combined sales of 50 million.

 

“An absurd and uninteresting fantasy which was rubbish and dull.” Rejection letter sent to William Golding for The Lord Of The Flies. 15 million sales.

 

“An endless nightmare. I think the verdict would be ‘Oh don’t read that horrid book.” Publisher rejects The War Of The Worlds by H.G. Wells. It is soon published in 1898, and has been in print ever since.

[lavendercloud]

I'm in a similar boat, having gotten my second official rejection from Playwriting MFA programs and finding out I'm not shortlisted at the program where I was a finalist last year.

I know it isn't a final statement about my abilities and that not getting picked by an exclusive club doesn't mean I'm incapable of pursuing the career I want. But it still sucks balls. So I could certainly use some cheering up...

[Amayan]

http://www.openculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Disney-Letter.jpg

 

At least I don't need to worry about this!

Edited February 20, 2015 by Amayan