Getting rejected sucks.
It feels horrible. It hurts deep down. It just plain sucks.
Everyone’s experienced it at least once. I know how awful rejection feels. That’s why I’m here – to help you get over it fast.
Maybe you got turned down by someone you really wanted to be with. Maybe you just went through an awful breakup. Maybe you’re still hurting from the last time you were turned down.
Maybe the ‘spark’ has gone out between you and the person you want and it hurts every day. Maybe you’re suffering from unrequited love. Maybe the person you love cheated on you.
Whatever the reason, getting rejected really, really hurts. You want to get over it, and you want to get over it fast.
Getting Over The Pain Of Rejection
If you’ve been hit with a really bad rejection, it’s normal to have a powerful reaction to it. Any of these reactions are normal after being rejected:
You might have felt unable to speak – like everything around you went shaky and your throat closed up around your words.
Maybe you even felt faint, or dizzy – like you couldn’t stand. Lots of people feel literally ‘stuck’ to one spot in the ground and unable to move.
On the other hand, lots of people feel like they want to run away as fast as they possibly can and get away from the situation. Your heart could have started pounding and feeling like it’s beating out of your chest.
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Whatever you felt – even if it was extreme – is a normal reaction to getting rejected. The worst part is, these feelings and effects can continue for days after being rejected.
Many people spend days feeling devastated. They can stop eating, feeling disinterested with food or even unable to eat. You could feel like anxiety was taking over parts of your life, or just feel ‘off’ – like you’re sick without being sick.
Even weeks later symptoms can persist. Even though the most intense symptoms might have passed you might still have days where you don’t feel good.
Anyone would want to be done with all that.
You’re tired of feeling like crap. You’re tired of feeling embarrassment, or disappointment, or discouragement, or sadness, or shame whenever you think about it.
You want to get over rejection fast. Here’s how to do it:
Exactly How To Get Over Rejection Fast
If you want to get over rejection fast, don’t worry – I’ve got the solution.
These 6 tricks will help you beat the pain of rejection and move on with your life as quickly as possible, so you don’t have to feel awful anymore.
1. Acknowledge Your Emotions
Suppressing your emotions will never help you deal with them – they always catch up to you. That’s the thing about emotions… if you deny them and try to pretend they’re not there it only makes them stronger.
They stay inside you, gaining power as you shove them down, waiting for the right moment to explode out of you.
The truth is that you will never get past negative emotions by refusing to deal with them. So that’s why the best course of action when it comes to rejection is to admit that getting rejected hurts.
Yes, it hurts!
Why do you think I started this article talking about how much rejection sucks? Rejection is embarrassing! It’s disappointing! It’s discouraging! And it makes you feel really awful for a really long time.
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Trying to tell yourself that rejection is ‘no big deal’ when you’re actually hurting inside will make the recovery process take much longer and feel much worse.
The best path is to accept that you’re hurting, accept that you feel embarrassed, or disappointed, or sad, and just give yourself time to process and deal with your emotions.
If you want to help the healing process along, remind yourself that eventually, the pain of rejection will go away. There’s no embarrassment or disappointment that lasts forever – eventually you will start to feel better.
So when you’re feeling your worst, it helps to remind yourself that one day the pain will fade and you will feel better. In the meantime, remember that it’s ok to feel awful sometimes, and allowing yourself to feel and process the negative emotions is the best way to get through them.
2. Talk To A Good Friend
Another ingredient that’s super important when it comes to processing your emotions is perspective. And the tricky thing about perspective is, it can’t just come from inside you.
A lot of the time, embarrassment will stop someone from going to their friends after they get rejected. That’s a huge mistake – your friends are there to help you feel better and also to give you perspective on what really happened.
The reason why its’ so hard to get good perspective on something like getting rejected is because you’re so emotionally wrapped up in what happened to you. This is doubly true if you’re feeling awful about getting rejected – your emotions will prevent you from having a clear perspective about it.
That’s why talking to friends is so important. Not only will they be able to give you much needed emotional support – they’ll also help you see what actually went wrong and what’s not your fault.
After getting rejected, it’s super easy to think that everything was your fault, and that you did everything wrong and you’ll never find happiness and on and on and on. The (happy) truth is, it’s not always about you (as you’ll see in the next section).
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3. Don’t Make It Personal
One of the easiest mistakes to make after being rejected is to assume that the rejection was 100% about you.
The thinking goes, you were rejected because you’re not good looking enough, or not smart enough, or not funny enough, or not The person who rejected you doesn’t know who you truly are because you two never dated and got close enough to show each other.
Getting rejected is much more often about where the other person is at mentally and what’s going on in their life. Sometimes, people really don’t want to be in a relationship or date someone new – regardless of who it is.
That’s why it’s vital to remember to not make it personal – it’s so easy to assume a rejection is all about the qualities you lack rather than the actual reasons in that person’s situation.
This is why talking to friends and getting their perspective is so important. They will be able to see the whole situation without emotional attachment, and be able to see when you’re making it personal and being too hard on yourself.
There’s one other thing to remember here: getting rejected means you’re pushing your limits and getting out of your comfort zone.
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That’s a good thing. When you stay in your comfort zone you’ll wind up stagnating and getting bored. It’s much better to push the boundaries of where you feel comfortable, even if it leads to getting rejected once in a while. It makes you grow as a person.
You can’t ever be sure that you’re pushing your limits if you don’t fail now and again – so celebrate the fact that you’re getting out of your comfort zone and growing on a personal level, even if this time getting rejected stung a little bit.
The most important thing to remember about not making rejection personal is this: don’t let rejection define you.
You’re not unattractive because one guy turned you down. It’s not personal – it’s just one guy and one situation. You are more than getting rejected – and the more you help yourself remember that the faster you can get over rejection and move on with your life.
4. Accept Rejection Sooner Rather Than Later
Chasing after someone who rejected you is a losing proposition 99% of the time. That’s just a fact.
And I know how easy it is to fall into that trap. It’s human nature to want something even more after it’s been denied to you – to want what you can’t have.
But if you let that desire control your actions moving forward then you’re going to wind up feeling worse and worse… not better.
more: Exactly How To Know For Sure If A Guy Likes You
If you truly want to get over rejection and move on, you need to accept that the person who rejected you really doesn’t want to be with you and let go.
Otherwise, you wind up pouring your effort down a black hole, never truly moving on from the rejection, and digging a deeper hole for yourself every day until you don’t know how to climb back out.
Instead, cut your losses and work on moving on if you want to feel better faster (not to mention find someone new and exciting again.)
5. Treat Yourself With Compassion
This is one of the most important steps to remember when getting over rejection – and one of the easiest to forget. Why is it so easy to forget to treat yourself with compassion and sympathy?
When we talk to ourselves in the privacy of our own minds, it’s easy to get on a ‘train of thought’ so to speak that runs almost unconsciously. Then, when you’re not ‘watching what you’re thinking’ – you can be saying some pretty nasty things to yourself.
The best way to illustrate how that happens is to take a moment when you’re feeling really bad and down on yourself and ‘pause’ mentally. Stop yourself in your head for a second and ask, “What am I really saying to myself?”
Ask yourself, “Do I really deserve how mean I’m being to myself? Are the things I’m saying about myself really true?”
When you take a second to look at what you’re really saying to yourself in the privacy of your own mind, it can be an enlightening experience. You can realize that a lot of the things you’ve been repeating unconsciously to yourself really do hurt – and you only notice how badly they’re hurting you when you consciously recognize them.
more: How To Handle Rejection The Best Way
So if you’re talking to yourself in a really negative way, know that that kind of self-talk is affecting your mood, it’s affecting how you relate to other people, and it’s affecting how you see yourself and how you think about yourself.
Don’t talk down to yourself when rejection happens – decide that you’re not going to stand for negative self-talk. And I know, that’s easier said than done. Like I said before, a lot of self-talk is habituation to the point of it going on unconsciously in your mind.
But if you really try to make an effort to stop yourself whenever you catch your mind getting down on itself, it makes a huge difference.
Treating yourself like a friend instead of an enemy is the difference between getting over rejection and negativity quickly and allowing it to take root instead and turn ugly, or maybe even worsen into depression.
If you can make the effort to treat yourself like a friend, it will be an immense help to feeling better and bouncing back from rejection way more quickly than you would otherwise.
6. Do Something Else To Take Your Mind Off Being Rejected
This is a crucial step towards feeling better after rejection. The truth is, wallowing in misery isn’t going to help you get over being rejected, any more than laying on the couch helps you lose weight.
All wallowing in misery does is make you feel worse and worse. Think about it this way: you were already rejected once – why relive it over and over in worse and worse ways in your mind? Letting yourself wallow in the negativity is only going to make you feel worse – and make it harder to bounce back.
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One of the best ways to keep your mental health up after being rejected is to do the things that you like doing – and throw yourself into them wholeheartedly. When you pursue something you enjoy, like a hobby or a project, it takes your brain away from being rejected and focuses it on having fun and improving instead.
That helps you get out of the miserable post-rejection swamp much faster than if you tried to slog it out on your own (or worse, wallowed in misery in the swamp alone).
The best things to do that take your mind off rejection are physical activities – getting up, around, and outside are some of the best ways to get your mind focused on something other than feeling bad. Getting active helps you feel better, and that’s a fact.
So do the things you’ve always enjoyed doing, and consider getting active and exercising as well. Not only will getting outside and getting active help you feel better physically, it will help you feel better mentally (because of all the dopamine and endorphins released from exercising).
more: How To Handle And Get Over A Rejection
So that’s it – those are the 6 best steps to getting over rejection.
At the end of the day, it’s important to remember that the pain of rejection won’t last forever, and that one day you will absolutely, definitely, 100% feel better.
Another great way to process the emotional pain of rejection is to talk about it with others, and share how you’re feeling – even if it’s to just open up to other people and admit that you’re hurting.
I hope this article helped you cope a little better with the pain of rejection. It’s a question I get asked a lot, and it’s a shame because a lot of the time when a woman thinks she’s been rejected really she’s just not reaching her man in the way he needs. There’s a ‘window’ where she can grab his attention and desire but you have to do the right things quickly or it will close, so find out exactly what to do right now by reading this article here: If He’s Pulling Away, Do This…
If you’re feeling up to it, leave a comment below with your story – writing it out and sharing it can help you get over it faster. Good luck.
Want to find out if the man you want really likes you? Click here to take our quick (and shockingly accurate) “Does He Like You?” Quiz right now and find out if he likes you…
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In summary…
How To Get Over Rejection Fast
- Acknowledge your emotions
- Talk to a good friend
- Don’t make it personal
- Accept rejection sooner rather than later
- Treat yourself with compassion
- Do something else to take your mind off being rejected
My wife cheated on me and left me. I’m disabled due to crohns disease. That was 5 years ago. Over the summer I met a girl that was interested in me. We really hit it off. We became a couple even though she lived in Texas and is from where I live. She said shed never hurt me. Talked about moving back home. Then one day she stopped being sweet kind and the love felt passed. I just asked her if my still deep feelings for her were reciprocal and she said no its unrealistic. We talked everyday….I’m a romantic. She knew how hurt I’ve been in the past. She was the first person I took a chance on or even had an opportunity with since my marriage failed. To take what I thought was love away so fast and not caring…being lied to again like my x wife. I hate being alone and that’s all i ever am. I have such a huge heart that no one wants.
Okay this gave me some relief I’ve been searching for on how to move one , thought I was going crazy over here , lol! I was in a very complex situation . I have been dating my current boyfriend for almost 7 years. Things have been rough and still are . Anyways , we moved to Florida like 4 years ago and he reconnected with a high school friend . The first couple years I did not think his friend was attractive and did not view him anymore than a annoying older brother type . Then when we moved from our first house to another town , he helped us sign the lease due to credit issues, and he wanted to move into the spare room since we where now closer to his job . Long story short he moved in with us. He start doing some things that I found odd and out of his usual behavior with me. Things like coming up behind me and rubbing my shoulders , when he got home from work he would pick me off the ground and give me a hug , make jokes about me leaving my boyfriend for him . I didn’t think anything of it , since his sense of humor was pretty dark and sarcastic . But then our mutual friends around us started to say it looked like he liked me blah blah blah. Like I stated my boyfriend was being pretty horrible to me so I started to give some thought to it , which was my first mistake. Getting to the point one night I while drinking I admitted to him that I liked him more then a friend , at first he declined the idea of it and even embarrassed me at a party and went straight to my boyfriend in front of everyone and told him what I had said and admitted to him. I kind of was over him after that , me and boyfriend worked it out but where still having trust issues . Then one night his best friend comes onto the couch with me while my boyfriend is sleeping and acts like he wants to hook up , we held hand cuddled and then he freaks out and tells me we can’t do this , this is wrong and runs to his room . We don’t speak about it and move on like it never happened . That one event had me hooked and made me out to believe that he wanted me also ! Sometimes actions speak louder than words ! Ill skip past the many other incidents that happened that where similar and get to the end . We ended up hooking up, no sex though . The next day he tells us he has to move out because his job is moving locations . He ignores us and never left me with any closure . Then couple weeks later he admits how he’s very upset about the situation , that I seduced him into it , that he tried to turn me down and that I kept harassing him about it . Pretty much making it seem like I was the only one with the feelings , even though I’m now seeing he was totally playing mind games with me , then when he finally got what he wanted out the situation he made me out to be the bad guy. We finally admitted to my boyfriend what happen because I wanted to it was eating me alive but he wanted to keep it a secret. When the situation finally climaxed of course he blamed everything on me , told me to get over him and that rejection is no big deal . He stated that he did not like me back and that he wanted to be left alone at peace. But I couldn’t let it go I still want him and have this hope that he’s going to text me and say he I feel the same away . I don’t know then I grew a dislike for my boyfriend like if it wasn’t for you maybe he would like me back . I know this is messed up guys but please don’t judge me I’m 25 and never really dating much outside my boyfriend , any advise? Also don’t trust friends enough to admit any of this what’s your prospective ? Better coming from people I don’t know so I can’t feel anymore pathetic …
Thank you for this article. I’m currently hurting very badly after being dumped by a guy after a very intense 2 month relationship. He was the first man I’ve met in 10 years of dating that I could really imagine being with forever.
10 days ago we had 2 amazing days together, he took photos of us together etc….. he then went home and ended it 12 hours later because he can’t see it lasting long term
It makes no sense to me at all and has plunged me into a black hole. I know this pain will end but every part of me is devastated
Thanks so much for this opportunity and i hope you help me solve this problem, there’s a girl she’s my colleague, actually i started working before she joined me, when she started we became best of friends we eat together,we play together,gist,we chat and call each other often it got to an extent my boss realized that the both of us are getting close too much but she didn’t say anything about that, I started having feelings for her then after sometime i asked her out her reply was that she has a boyfriend then i said okay but this guy always make her feel unhappy and sometimes he makes her cry due to his behavior, to cut the story short of recent i opened up to her that i love her the next thing she said was that I’m saying rubbish and since that very day she started being weird, if i talk to her or ask her a question it takes time before she replies this Night i called her to inform her about some important task that she’s going to Carry out tomorrow after that i was trying to ask her if she has eaten she didn’t even allow me to finish talking she hanged up immediately, right now it’s obvious that she’s rejecting me and I’m feeling bad, Please what can i do to get over this because seeing her everyday makes my love for her grow, please what can i do?
I am sorry that you are experiencing this kind of hurt from rejection. I got rejected by a guy myself recently. I understand how you feel. I also see him at work all the time, which makes it worse. The only way I am able to deal with it is try to be quiet, keep my distance and accept that he isn’t interested in me and move on. It still hurts, but their is other people out there who would really like me and you, believe that! don’t take it personal. It takes time to heal from feeling bad, but you will get through it…
I exercise my ass of, play sports, positive self-talk, don’t take it very personally and all that fun stuff. I STILL feel like I wanna damn die!
He wasn’t even good-looking, he’s broke, small penis, never did oral but when he did it was mediocre at best, lying, cheating, manipulative user.
So I wonder if maybe I’m just an emotional masochist.
Yeah,i have been reading different articles of this kind after being rejected by a girl whom i really had a crush on, i really felt sad but i have been trying my best to move on because it was not my wish to get rejected and i never knew it was coming…..that’s part of life…
Hi,
I’ve been wallowing in self-defeat for almost two weeks now.
I’ve practically been in love with a guy I worked with for almost a year. We’ve been “work friends” for most of the time and hungout in groups a couple times.
He dated a girl for most of that time but they recently broke up and I thought I had an in.
Turns out, he’s very much emotionally damaged by this girl and I’m 99% sure he’s still in love with her even after she moved away from our city.
But, I’m dumb, and still told myself maybe there was a chance (WRONG).
Despite how apparent his emotional baggage and love for his ex was, I pursued him, and one night after going out with a group of his friends for drinks, we ended up back at my place (ughhhhh).
We had a fun night together and I felt super compatible with him in all ways possible.
At some point during this night, I asked him if we were gonna do this again, and despite the haze from drinking, I distinctly remember him asking “what do you expect from this?” ummm.. yikes. But again, I was just having a good time and didn’t process that part until later.
Not to mention during this night, he told me “I think you’re very attractive, fun, funny, and sweet… but I’m just not trying to build anything right now.”
Okay, this was clearly a red flag that this would go nowhere, but again, I had rose colored glasses on and decided to focus on all of the compliments and not the clear cut sting of not wanting to build anything with me…
The next morning, I took him home and we didn’t discuss what happened at all.
I kind of knew that this would be a bad idea from the get go, but I was so head over heels for this guy that I told myself one night with him would be better than nothing at all.
I realize now how wrong this thought process was.
I waited all day to get some kind of text or closure or just a check in from him, and nothing. Nothing at all.
So, a couple days later I sent him a late night snapchat, to which he replied that he didn’t want to lead me on.
Ouch.
So, from there, we basically didn’t ever talk about what happened- even though he told me we could talk about it (neither of us really pushed the topic).
It’s been a couple weeks and I haven’t really heard from him, so I’ve been dealing with that rejection and the realization that our friendship is definitely damaged/ruined and I don’t have him for anything more than that.
Moral of my story here is: One fantasized night is not worth the emotional sting that comes if you’re emotionally invested in the idea of being together. I wish it never would’ve happened and we would’ve just stayed platonic work friends becasue now we’re not really friends or dating, so the worst of both worlds.
I’m feeling a bit better now- I’ve had to vent to my friends, feel depressed for a while, and read self-help relationship articles, but slowly but surely I think I’ll move on from this.
Thank you for your article and reiterating how bad it sucks to be rejected, because yeah, it totally sucks.
This really is some great advise. Ex specially not to blame yourself so much. Sometimes as women we give and give and than give some more and so often we are taken for granted. We have to Take care of ourselves. We want to fix things that sometimes is just not fixable or its out of our power.The battle is not ours its the Lord’s
It’s not only women who get rejected. I was rejected by a woman who I really care about who used to be in an abusive relationship. I did take it personally but have tried to move on by becoming a better all round person. It may work, it may not but one day at a time…
i have a friend who was rejected by someone that she truly cared for and now, she is having a hard time dealing with it. i will share this helpful article with her.
it is really nice to have a good friend whom you can talk to and give you advice and emotional support.
silution is to pray to God everyday
That’s why talking to friends is so important. Not only will they be able to give you much needed emotional support, they’ll also help you see what actually went wrong and what’s not your fault.
rejection, as painful as it can be cannot and shall not hold you off your future. it can happen to anyone, but the difference is how you handle it and get back on your feet again.
get back up and make the decision not to look back nor regret anything. life is full of surprises!
don not take it personal. it is never always your fault. there are lots of men out there who are more deserving of your time and love
help yourself and make that form decision to move forward with all the positivity you can get
take your time and deal with it the proper way but don’t take it too far. you need to give yourself a break from feeling sorry and beating up yourself.
indeed true, do not let rejection define you. Not even a guy to do so. Men are not the same as much as we, women aren’t.
the pain of rejection is really tough for a girl. go out with your friends, talk to them and be active so you can recover really fast
don’t take it personal and try to be the best version of yourself. you’ll see you’ll soon be moving on with your head held up.
i was once in this desperate situation and the only thing that got me up again was socializing. i began talking to my friends and going out..it just felt natural for me to move on an enjoy what i have and be optimistic.
rejection is the worst ever! im sure a lot of women will learn from this.
never wallow in your current state. acknowledge it but make a firm decision to get up and move on.
thank you for this great article. im sure a lot of women could learn from you and your work.
women need to understand that bravery is needed also in order to achieve this. going with emotions will never gonna help.
go through the normal phase and don’t rush it but be careful not to take too much time as well. it is better dealing with it and accepting reality.
thanks so much for this. i have been dealing with some sort of depression since my ex left me a few months back. i know i need to get over it fast so i can be confident again and stronger than ever.
i will keep this in mind. i hope i won’t have to deal with this though.