Radvent Day 11: Rejection

It's really hard to talk about rejection. I can't imagine there's a person on Earth who can talk about it easily. I have had to deal with a pretty decent amount of rejection in my life, both career-related and personally, with my friendships. Hasn't everyone? Having my own business and having to build it from the ground up during a time when the industry is being challenged like never before is not easy. I deal with rejection every single day with photography. It's very easy for me to look at my friends who are also photographers and only see their successes, not seeing their failures. I see my own failures and indeed experience them deeply, so I am pretty sure that the rest of you are also experiencing failures and just not telling me. ;)  Am I right?

I've spoken of my trouble maintaining close, local friendships due to my introverted nature. I'm a loner, and an introvert, and when I try to pretend like I'm an extrovert and a social butterfly, things crash and burn sooner rather than later. I love my friends, but I've unfortunately learned time and again that I can't trust people to be understanding if they aren't of the same temperament I am. I have very few close friends now, and I prefer staying home to going out all the time ... and that's fine with me. Of course, it does cause some problems with my chosen profession (event photography) ... but I'm trying to reconcile that at present. I'm not saying I have everything figured out yet (far from it) but I'm really trying! It's probably the biggest issue I've been dealing with over the last two years.

Anyway. I'm not too into revisiting all of the myriad ways in which I've been rejected in my life. I have much to be thankful for and I am very happy overall. Instead, I'm going to take an empowering perspective and share 8 things I'm very happy to (as they say on Galactica), vent out an airlock:


8 things I'm happy to reject:

1. Comparison — I am so done comparing myself to others. Instead, I embrace my own journey, and don't let others distract me. Now, if only I were 100% or even 75% good at this one ...
2. Boredom — Would you believe me if I told you it's been years since I've felt bored? I used to feel bored all the time. Now, time has sped up so much, and there is so much I want to do with my life, that the idea of boredom seems ludicrous. There aren't enough hours in the day, no matter what is going on! When I see people say they're bored these days, I want to say "That's ridiculous. Think of all the things you could be doing, thinking about, dreaming of!" 
3. The word "impossible" — I refuse to believe in impossibility. 
4. Hopelessness — This life, in my world, is all about hope. Without hope, there is nothing; and I cannot believe that I live in a world without hope. There is always hope to be found.
5. Materialism — I really find materialism disgusting. But at the same time, does having any "stuff"mean that you're automatically materialistic? I want to be comfortable with less, but I want to have enough not to worry about money all the time. Interesting, isn't it. 
6. Partisanship — If only I were Congress, this would actually mean something ... but for now, it means that I try to understand every single one of my friends and their views, because I never want to become part of the problem.
7. Reality TV — I am proud to have never seen an episode of Survivor, American Idol, The X Factor, or any other reality show. Reality television rots the brain and corrodes society and I will not be convinced any differently. I would never watch reality TV following a photographer, and that's something I'm really interested in ... so why would I watch it about anything else?
8. Rules — Let me explain. I am a person with a well developed sense of justice. Justice is very important to me. I also understand why societies need rules. But I also am a firm believer that rules, once you know and understand them, were made to be broken. I aim in life to break as many of the rules as possible, without causing harm to myself or others. 

What do you reject?


♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥
I'm participating in Radvent this year via the ever-awesome Princess Lasertron, and you should too!