Fear of rejection, of failure, of disappointing others has played a huge role in decisions I’ve made throughout my life.
One of the worst feelings in the world is rejection. Feeling like you aren’t good enough or like there is something wrong with you.
On the other hand, the feeling of acceptance is one of the greatest. It’s an affirmation that you are enough. Acceptance means that someone values you enough to bring you into their life.
Of course things are not as cut and dry as I’ve described them. Fundamental attribution errors, as I was discussing yesterday, can also be made with ourselves as the subject. In the face of rejection, we can choose to think that it was because of some internal or personal reason, or we can realize that there are external factors at play. If you were applying for a job, maybe other candidates, God forbid, were extremely well qualified!
Similarly acceptance is not always as great as it sometimes may seem. Far to often people take advantage of how great acceptance feels and use it to in a sense control or manipulate others. The hazing process of some college organizations is exactly this; tormenting young/ new members for little more than the entertainment of the seniors. Of course fear of rejection plays a role too, but in a case like this, participants are ultimately hoping to gain acceptance.
Not sure what I want to end with this because I am currently having an internal conflict about this subject, I will report back once I have resolved it.
nANIMOv 