What Has Fear of Rejection Stopped You From Asking For?

Diogenes, the Greek philosopher, was once seen asking a statue for money. When asked why, he said he was practising being refused. The story, recorded in an ancient account of his life, is more practical than it first sounds. Many of us reject ourselves before anyone else gets the chance. We skip a job application because we lack one requirement. We delay asking our boss for a raise. We avoid messaging someone experienced in our field because we expect to be ignored. Often, the real fear is not the word “no” but how it may make us feel. Rejection can hurt, but it also becomes easier to handle when we stop treating it as proof that we should never have asked. What opportunity did you let pass because you assumed the answer would be no? Did you later discover that the answer might have been yes?

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