How to Handle Rejection and Overcome the Fear of Being Rejected

... by acknowledging and expecting it can and will hurt.

To overcome the sting of rejection, stop trying to avoid feeling that stings. Stop pretending your unaffected if indeed, you are.

Listen to the voice’s mix of rage, sadness, loss, and loneliness. You will start to feel relief simply by no longer pretending you’re invincible and allowing the flood of your feelings to flow.

Make a contract with your partner, family, and friends allowing them to catch you in the throes of verbal diarrhea when you were unfairly treated.

Work out three or four different activities that will distract you and turn your attention to something productive. 

 ... you expose yourself to.

We all have a different threshold of the amount of rejection we can handle. Wisely considering how much more you can handle is essential. 

Before you take another step forward, ask yourself if you have the right resources and support in place to catch you.

• Is it possible that the deductions I am making about myself are actually not true?
• Is it possible that this rejection is just an indication that what I wanted to belong to and be part of is not a suitable fit for me?
• Could this rejection be a guiding rail to steer me back on the course I am truly meant to be on?
• Could this actually be a grand opportunity to grow and expand into a better version of myself?

Ask yourself after you have allowed some time to pass after the initial experience of your rejection:

• Could I have idolized the situation or person which has now led me to feel such a deep sense of unworthiness? 
• Could I have put the person or opportunity on a pedestal which made the fall of being rejected so much harder on impact?
• Are there negative attributes about the situation that I was not seeing because I was wanting this so badly?

... to diffuse the fear of future rejection.

• Proactively review your behavioral patterns and resources and forecast your recovery strategy should you be in the firing line to take a fall in the future.
• By predicting how your emotions and thoughts could be sent into a spin, you give yourself a stronger sense of maintaining self-control should rejection hit.
• Invest in things that restore your energy, strength, and willingness to bounce back.