Fear of Rejection
Why do human beings avoid rejection at all costs?
Allow me to enumerate here below some of the costs of avoiding rejection. Of course, it varies depending on the context as it can occur in many aspects of life, but let us have a general look:
- Emotional cost: People may choose to avoid taking risks or expressing their true feelings to avoid the potential emotional pain of rejection.
- Missed opportunities: Especially in professional growth. If you never take the risk to ask, argue, confront or face trying to avoid rejection, you may limit your potential and miss opportunities.
- Stagnation: Avoiding rejection leads to a sense of stagnation and complacency. If you never step out of your comfort zone or challenge yourself or others, you may not experience personal growth and development.
- Lack of innovation: In business, if you always play it safe to avoid potential criticism or rejection, you may miss out on innovative ideas and approaches.
- Regret and self-blame: Over time, the cost of avoiding rejection can lead to regret, overthinking and anxiety. You may look back and wish you had taken more chances, defended yourself, pursued your dreams, or expressed your feelings, knowing that avoiding rejection held you back.
So why do human beings avoid rejection and are so afraid of it?
The primitive human being lived in closed circles, belonged to tribes, was protected from danger because of this connection and sense of belonging. Taking the risk to express openly his/her feelings and opinions, contradicting the rest of the tribe, rebelling against certain rules, would have put our ancestor into risk. The human mind connected, over the years and following the experiences, being rejected to being “unsafe”, even facing “death” alone.
Although we live in a modern world, our mind is still primitive. It needs updating. Rejection nowadays does not “kill” anyone. But your mind still doesn’t know this!