Rejection…Disappointment …and the Learning Curve

I was thinking about this recently.  It came to my mind when a person said “you have done so much with your life…you are lucky”.  On reflection I realized that the person was right.  I have had so many experiences.

When we are young we only have a small idea of what our life ahead will be like. When I was 18 I saw my future as a wife and a mother.  I had no idea that the world had different plans or that more was to come.  I did become that wife and mother and then suddenly my world shifted.

When I see parents walk down the streets I remember the days when I had the amazing time where I headed to baseball and soccer and where my children were my life.  I smile.  It was such a wonderful time.  It was so carefree. But they grew up and in so many ways so did I.

My learning as an adult did not come until it was “just me”.  I entered a new world as an adult; One that didn’t include the unconditional love of a toddler. Suddenly I was an adult without a place and I needed to find one.  So I tried.

I will never forget on my backpacking trip to Europe six years ago a man who after seeing me going on the up escalator and me going down, changed directions just to ask me for coffee.  After agreeing for this coffee in the beautiful city of Rome, I asked him why?  His answer, “the worst you could have said was NO”. 

Such profound words.  The worst is that we face rejection in a new situation.  And is that bad?  It leads to disappointment no doubt.  But it also leads to a world opened up.  We have actually open our hearts and lives to something new…an experience.

There are days where the disappointment, when I have lunged for a new opportunity and it has not worked out, makes me sad. 

And then I remember that without ever taking a chance I would never have the opportunity to learn and most of all ....to move forward.