Listen, rejection hurts. Nobody LIKES to get rejected. But the most important thing to keep in mind is:

DON’T TAKE IT PERSONALLY

“Huh?” you may ask. “I just got my butt dumped and you are telling me not to take it personally? How is that not personal?”

It’s not personal, at least not towards you. It’s personal for the person who rejected you. It has to do with them not you.

Listen, you know peppermint? Loads of people love peppermint, it’s a hugely popular flavor for gum. Chris HATES peppermint. It makes her want to barf. Does that say anything about peppermint? Does that mean peppermint is barf-worthy? Clearly NOT because gum manufacturers everywhere are still making tons of money with that flavor – people generally don’t buy things to barf. It only says something about Chris – that Chris has unique taste buds (with which she is personally quite OK).

So when someone rejects you, remind yourself: it’s not about you (the peppermint), it’s about them (Chris and her unique taste buds). (Of course, this is assuming that you didn’t kill their pet frog and serve it to them for a romantic dinner… then it might be personal. We are talking the average break up where no one went out of their way to be cruel to one another.)

Then remember:

Harry Potter– 

was rejected 14 times before being published

The lesson: most people don’t know a good thing when they see it.

Now, don’t be afraid to take some time out to acknowledge your hurt feelings.  Rejection does hurt, so go ahead and take that bath, watch 14 hours of TV, eat some ice cream, go bowling with your friends, snuggle with you teddy bear or run 12.5 miles – whatever you need to do to work through it and get over it.

The point is: give yourself a break and give yourself some time to heal.

Then, keep in mind two other rejection savvy quotes that came from teens just like you:

“Everything happens for a reason”

&

“To get to the rainbow, you must go through the rain.”