Do What You Believe In Despite Fear Of Rejection

As the last few rejections loom, I wanted to do something memorable to myself. One of which was to stand on a street corner of downtown Austin and tell the world a story. If people stop by and listen, they will have accepted me. If they keep on walking, they will have rejected me. My wife gave me the idea. After hearing it, I started pondering it with a hand on my face. My wife looked at me and said, “I see fear in your eyes”. ‘Damn’, I said to myself, am I not supposed to be fearless by now? After almost 100 rejection requests, why am I still bothered by this idea? People on the street won’t know me, and it won’t matter if they think I am crazy or mock me. I am not, or not supposed to be afraid of rejection anymore!

But the fact is, I am still scared. To be honest, I was scared before I did many of these rejection requests. However, I did them despite my fear, and I am proud of that.

Many people emailed me asking how to get rid of the fear of rejection. There are a few things you can do, and rejection therapy is one of them. However, you will never completely get rid of the fear. As long as we are human, there will always be that fight-or-flight instinct. Doing things you believe, regardless how much it scares you, makes you fearless.

For me, I am still scared of going to a public place and tell the world a story. But I will still do it, because of my commitment, and because I am trying to be a fearless human. If FDR was right, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself”. Well, I am going to kick my fear to the curb.