Accepting Rejection with Grace

So you go out on a date. One person is digging the experience far more than the other. The movie was awkward. The dinner was even more so. At the end of the night, the interested party looks for signs that the other person found them to be the most fascinating thing on the planet, but none are forthcoming.

There is no return phone call.

With so many reactions to the above scenario, the most prevalent seems to be anger and or depression. The infatuated person now deems the object of their affection as selfish, stuck up, a jerk, frigid, a good for nothing, and on and on.

Whether any of the above things are true or not, the rejected person soothes their bruised ego by casting stones at the other. Normal, perhaps, but is self esteem that is attained at the cost of another true self esteem?

Also, if anger isn’t the appropriate response, what is?

I wasn’t always sure of the answer to the latter question myself.

I suffered numerous missteps in dating, and subsequently, dating became a nightmare for me. Either guys were just trying to bed me on the first date, or the ones I really liked weren’t interested. Walking this romance minefield I felt dejected and rejected.

Then I came across an article by an Indian Guru about the nature of anger. He said it stemmed from the idea that things are supposed to go a certain way. This realistic and unfair expectation causes us to become angry. Entering any given scenario with the idea of what is supposed to happen can cause a let down that can be tremendous.

However, if you remove any hint of expectation than something miraculous happens. You simply enjoy the time you spend whether it will be the last time you see the person or the second….you are in the moment and the moment can be sweet and divine in and of itself.

When I discovered the little gem of having no expectations as to the outcome of a date, I relaxed, because I relaxed, I actually had more fun on my dates. I wasn’t worried about the impression I was giving so much as simply enjoying my time with this new person.

To my surprise, I got more return phone calls. Men saw a confident, self assured woman, the hint of desperation to please and be liked was no longer there. In fact, even though some of the potential romances fizzled, I was able to maintain polite acquaintance with the guys, off whom I gained a wealth of knowledge on the male perspective in dating.

Was I never disappointed? Heck no, I wouldn’t be human if I said that there were certain times I would have loved a better outcome–but I didn’t harbor anger or bitterness, I just relished the time I had in the presence of a wonderful human being.

Long and the short or it–I found the man o’ my dreams, and here I am, happily married with a beautiful daughter.