We all experience rejection at some point in our lives. I was deeply inspired to write about this topic after watching an episode of The Fresh Prince, starring Will Smith. During the episode,Will reunited with his father, Lou, who was absent from his life for 14 years. The pair attempted to rebuild their relationship and even planned activities together, but when the time came for them to embark on their trip, Lou bailed. An emotional Will lets his frustration out in a conversation with Uncle Phil, but things got sad when he finally breaks down in tears. As I watched Will break down, I also began to shed a few tears of my own. This wasn’t just an episode for me, I was watching my life experiences play out in front of my eyes. I was Will Smith and Lou represented all the rejection that I had experienced in my life.
Rejection is something that really hurt me as a teen and carried on into my 20’s, In the past, I haven’t dealt with rejection very well. When Family, friends, Ex-Lovers and even strangers would reject or neglect to give me the love or attention that I felt like I needed, I would feel empty, unimportant and undeserving of happiness. Looking in the mirror was extremely hard at times; I began to hate and even reject myself. I put my self-worth and identity in the hands of others and that’s where I FUCKED UP! I guess at that time you can call me a chameleon because I would also change how I looked, acted and felt based off of who other people wanted me to be, instead of who I wanted to be. For example, a few years ago, I was in a relationship with a man who hated me. I believe he hated me because he would constantly tell me everything that was wrong with me, he would compare me to other females, he cheated, verbally and physically abused me and even publicly humiliated me. I didn’t know who I was nor did I love myself, so I would pretend to be the girl he wanted so that I wouldn’t have to deal with rejection or the realization that he would never accept me no matter how much I shaped shifted myself into the woman that he wanted me to be. Like Will said in the episode “why doesn’t he want me, man”? When I would get rejected by the people in my life, I constantly asked myself why don’t they love me? Why don’t they accept me? What am I doing wrong?
After all the years of hurt and pain, I experienced from being rejected, I finally woke up one day and decided to love and accept myself and if Friends, Family, Strangers or even Lovers don’t what to accept me or love me, then they could get to STEPPING OUT THE FUCKING DOOR because I will never change myself for anyone ever again.The only change I will be doing is to become a better person for me so that I can prosper and live a fulfilling life. It’s safe to say I have reached my spiritual turning point. I have met my higher self; I know who I am, and I trust and know exactly what I want out of life. I don’t regret any of the rejection I experienced or the self-rejection I cause to myself because it taught me to be strong, walk with my head up and love myself flaws and all. Rejection is God’s protection! When I finally let go of all the toxic people that did nothing but reject me or when people voluntarily left my life leaving me to pick up all the painful pieces, I realized that God was protecting me because he had something better in store. YEP, you guessed it the blessings started pouring in. The best lesson I’ve learned and I hope that everyone reading this will also learn is that not everyone is going to like, love, accept you or think that your beautiful and that okay, just make sure to always love yourself and never change for anyone but you!!!
