The joy and the high of acceptance, especially of your creation, cannot be explained. You feel elated, the day is colorful, the weather’s beautiful, you become more loving, you are excited to live, life is like a movie and everything seems perfect.

And just when you thought you created your best work so far, is when you get the most unfair response life has to offer. A rejection.

And nothing seems good anymore.

Rejections come in different shapes and sizes – some come in parts, some start out in parts and then change the whole eventually, and some are plain rejections like a ‘NO’ or some come as – no response at all, but they all sting.

In fact, if a rejection doesn’t bother you at all then you haven’t really put yourself truly into your creation.

But what’s more important is how you handle rejection. And you can only handle it well when you understand, like any good sales professional does, that it is not you who is rejected. It is your offer.

You can argue that your creation carries a part of you, so it is not the same as a sales pitch. In a way that’s true, but unless you are painting for yourself, there will be rejections, and that’s life.

And this is exactly what makes a professional, a professional.

An amateur will let the pain of rejection ruin his day, his week, his life. He might even quit the journey altogether.

The professional feels the pain of rejection too, but he has learnt to move on. He understands that if he allows the rejection to screw his brains up, he won’t be able to do better work for the next project. He could miss out on an opportunity of a lifetime by letting the past ruin today’s opportunity.

The professional embraces the truth and tries to learn from it, rather than running away from it.

He learns to smile at his defeat, and says – ok, what’s next?

Being a professional is a state of mind, it’s not the years of experience and designation. It is an approach, a mindset.

You can be an amateur with hundred years of experience, you can be a pro with none.

Rejection helps us stay grounded, it gives us depth as a creative being and tells us never to take our success for granted.

It can happen anytime and anywhere, you can’t predict it, it’s not in your hands. Only your work is.

So dust yourself and get back to work, the weather is beautiful.

Originally posted here