Learning To Overcome Rejection Is Not Always Easy, But It Will Transform Your Relationships and Every Other Area of Your Life

Last month I hosted a webinar about building better friendships, and my heart swelled with joy and gratitude because people were honest and vulnerable and led to other topics I plan to unpack in the coming months. I decided to host a webinar on friendship because I hear and read so many comments about how tough it is to make friends as an adult.

When I was sharing information about the webinar online, I created a post for Facebook and IG based on one of my most common statements about friendship, and my heart ached for some of the ladies who privately shared their struggles with rejection.

Here’s what I said in the post:

“Making friends opens you up to the possibility of rejection, but the people who belong in your life will want to be in it.”

That’s a bold statement to some, but I believe it’s true. My personal experience has taught me that not everyone I like will like me back. I’ve asked people to coffee or lunch who didn’t make the time to join me, and that’s okay.

Feelings of rejection often come easily because it’s reinforcing an insecurity that we already hold. Let me say that a different way – we experience offense or rejection most often because we already feel unloved, unworthy, etc. You can fill in the blank there with the insecurities you face.

But when we begin to recognize that we don’t have to allow anyone else’s opinion of our image to shape our own, we begin to experience freedom from rejection. And when we do that, we give ourselves the opportunity to allow others to see the good in us too.

I have a few close friends who are fun and wise and willing to celebrate or lament with me, and those relationships are priceless to me. These friends don’t think I’m perfect, but they choose to see the best in me. And I never had friendships like that until I was willing to be authentically me, which was a hard-fought effort for a long time.

Overcoming rejection is not easy, but it’s possible. It starts with us, not others. And I know from experience that if you struggle with rejection, God will give you the grace to overcome it.

He loves you.

You’re made in his image.

He created you on purpose.

He does not make mistakes.

Although believing those statements may require practice, starting there - embracing your identity in Christ will strengthen your relationships and transform every area of your life.

Do you struggle with rejection? Is it something you’ve overcome? I’d love to hear your thoughts on it in the comments.