It’s natural for people to experience some nerves when they are going to face situations that might lead to rejection. However, for some people, this fear becomes so overwhelming that it disrupts their ability to function.
For most of my life, I was afraid of rejection. I feared I was not being liked or not fitting in. I pretended I was indifferent to what other people thought of me. But underneath, I struggled with low self-esteem, and low self-confidence, and spend a lot of time and energy worrying about what other people thought of me. I kept quiet and avoided sharing my thoughts because I was afraid that people might disagree with me and think what I said was foolish.
Because of this fear, I couldn’t function properly. I avoided meeting people and was always depressed. I was lonely and saw myself as a failure.
In 2014, after a major depressive episode, I was faced with growing angst and creeping depression, I was motivated to overcome my fear of rejection.
I’m pleased to tell you that I’ve somehow overcome this overwhelming fear of rejection and here I would like to share with you how I overcome the fear of rejection.
Know and understand that you are not alone
First and foremost, know and believe that you are not alone. We are wired with a longing to belong, and because of this, we fear being seen in a critical way and getting rejected. So, the very first thing is to know and understand that you’re not alone. The realization that you’re not alone will greatly reduce feelings of shame and loneliness.
Share your thoughts one step at a time
Next, you can try to share your thoughts one step at a time. If you can’t find friends or siblings that you’re comfortable with sharing, you might want to seek professional help because you can be certain that they make no judgments on your thoughts.
I started sharing my thoughts with my therapist one step at a time and I can tell you that it helps me a great deal in overcoming my fear of speaking up.
Accept Your Weaknesses and Appreciate your strengths
Before you can improve on your weaknesses, you need to accept them. Accept your fear of rejection then take steps to overcome it.
Another thing I did was not to focus so much on my weaknesses but to also appreciate your strengths. Take a moment to find out what your strengths are and learn to appreciate them. Appreciating your strengths will greatly help when you need to learn to overcome any weaknesses.
If fear of rejection disrupts your ability to function, have no worries, you can start taking steps now to overcome it. And you can come up with your own ways to overcome your fear of rejection in addition to what I mentioned