Upon growing up, being rejected has been a part of one’s life. We can experience and encounter rejections in so many facets; be it from the school that you’ve been dreaming to attend to, the company you aim to work at, the scholarship you badly wanted to get to somehow lessen the burden of your parents, or, even the person you liked the most.

It is undoubtedly disappointing to get rejected. You make an effort to get something. You expected to get the answer you’ve been dying to hear. You invest time, emotions, effort, only to get rejected in the end.

Rejection can cause someone emotional pain because in the process of striving to achieve or get something, there comes an expectation. Whether we like it or not, we assume or expect for an answer that we wanted to hear in return from what we ask or do.

But did you know that regrets can pain you more than rejection?

It has been proven that the regrets that we get from not taking a step to achieve something can cut deeper than being rejected afterwards. Just like what Albert Einstein said, “If you are not going to ask, the answer will always be no.”

How would you know that something is or is not for you if you’re not going to try? If you’re not going to ask? The chances you don’t take, the times you just let pass by without taking a risk, the fear that holds you back and not speaking for what you truly feel will haunt you for a very long time.

I still believe that every risk we take is always worth it for us, that it’s important for our betterment, that it’s always beneficial to our own growth.

After rejection, please don't get tired of life. Please, continue living. Keep striving to become the better version of yourself. Keep exploring. Keep being excited. There are so much that life can offer.

Sometimes, the key to not getting hurt after rejection is self-love. Take the moment to fully realize what you really need to what you really want. Take the moment and be brave enough to heal and fix yourself. Take the moment to self-reflect, to fully understand, rebuild, and care for yourself. Only then, you will get to realize that the pain from rejection is just like folded paper planes that need to be thrown away and never to return again. Move on. Be happy.

But always remember that the love you give away will come back to you one day.