Rejection Research Paper

Rejection is a very difficult thing for most people to handle. Combine this with taking part in an act to knowingly get rejected, the perfect concoction of awkwardness, anxiety, and discomfort can be brewed. The rejection challenge was something that I never expected myself to want to do. I could only imagine what the other person would say and how awkward it would be when I took part in these challenges. Taking part in one challenge changed my confidence in an immense way; it showed me that people are not as dangerous as they may seem to be, it inspired me to move past the awkward feelings and take part in more rejection challenges: anything from asking for a dollar to asking a police officer for a ride. Before I began the challenge,
I would count to three and take the leap. My first challenge was to ask someone to race me, which seemed like the easiest choice at the time. Walking around on a weekend that everyone was gone home or to the game, I had to ask a lone stranger sitting outside Jester. With my heart beating in my ears, I walked up to the person at the bench and took the first leap. Speaking the first word was the hard part, and the rest just flowed out and became a lot easier. The rest of the challenge went as expected. Although the conversation was slightly uncomfortable, we both warmed up to the fact that I had asked him to race and went through with the
Socializing and making new friends is far less awkward, and if someone had agreed to race me out of the blue, why would someone say no to being friends? Rejection is a wall that seems insurmountable till it has happened. After the first climb, the rest become easier, almost as if one is training for a rock climbing mission every time; with more practice, the activity becomes easier, and consequently, rejection becomes something that one is not scared of. I had so much courage after this first challenge that I decided to take part in the rest of the eight challenges for extra credit. The activities were fun, the challenge easy, and only a potential for reward, not loss, so I accepted the challenge. The rest of the eight rejections were easy: some I got a yes, some I got a no, but the fear of walking up to someone was not present