The Sting of Rejection

Dr. Seuss received 27 rejections for his first book. One editor (we’ll call him Ed) put it to him this way – “It’s too different from other juveniles on the market to warrant its selling.”

Yep, it was different all right.

But what if the good doctor had believed old Ed the editor? What if he had shrugged and said, “Oh well, I think I’ll take up badminton instead. I’ve always liked badminton, you know.” And what a mournful day that would have been! To think – Taylor Swift would have never had the chance to voice Ted’s love interest in The Lorax…  Even Jesus is weeping over that thought, I assure you.

In the writing business rejections are handed out like candy on Halloween. It comes with the territory. But writers are not the only ones who experience rejection or run into folks who don’t see their potential. I know this firsthand.

Back when I was an undergraduate applying to graduate schools, I had a meeting with my advisor. He asked me where I was applying, so I handed him a list of my top 10. They were all Ph.D. programs at my dream schools.

He looked at the list. Then he looked at me. “So, what are you going to do when you don’t get accepted?” Note he said “when” not “if”.

“Excuse me?”

“What is Plan B?” he asked.

You know, there’s an old tale that a physicist once proved that a bumble bee cannot fly, given its tiny wings and bulky body. But the bumble bee, not knowing physics, flies anyway.

Well, my advisor was obviously focused on my teeny, tiny wings. As in, (right wing) I was currently attending a small state school. And (left wing) I had no connections whatsoever. After all, I was the first nut from my family tree to ever land on a college campus. But I had something beyond those wings. I had…

BUMBLE! Not bumble, as in “clumsy and awkward”, but BUMBLE, as in that heart of the bee that does not give a buzz about physics (look inside – you have it, too).

At that moment I knew I had what it would take to get into one of those schools. I had good grades. I had worked hard on some great research projects. And a major medical center had arranged a plum summer internship for me. And so…

I looked my advisor straight in the eye and said, “There is no Plan B.”

He said nothing – just shrugged and handed back my list.

But what if I had taken his words to heart? What if I had gone back to my dorm, ripped up my list, and eaten a box of doughnuts?

Well, my husband, for one, would have been sorely disappointed. At that very moment he was killing time at Purdue University – waiting for me to arrive so we could meet. And sheesh, we can pretty much assume that our children would have been pretty bummed, too.

The rest, as they say, is history (my own crazy history, that is).

And just for the record – IF I had not been accepted to any of the schools on my list, you can bet your bumble that my 20-year-old self would have come up with an amazing plan BEE!

PROMPT: Embrace your BUMBLE! Today is a great day to believe in YOU! Rejections? Humph! What do they know? Get out there – it’s time to FLY!