Hi Aria,

Rejection is part of our lives and it is normal to feel offended by rejection. Take it as  a battle scar to be proud of because from this experience, I am sure that you can bring some lessons home with you. Take some responsibility for the outcome and contemplate on the reason why the rejection happens. Sometimes, it has nothing to do with you and everything to do with the other person.  But if you feel you play a part in it, then you can lean in a little bit more to the problem and create a solution of how to better handle the situation next time. It is an opportunity to improve ourselves and grow. Most importantly, don’t take life too seriously, have fun in trying out new things 🙂

For social anxiety, I find this trick very useful: the next time you find someone interesting to talk to but feel anxious, you can experiment in raising your volume a little. It makes such a big difference by raising your voice. Keep doing it not once, but several times. And, express yourself more without thinking how people might judge you. What you think how they might react may not be accurate and at most a speculation of your mind. If people can’t accept you for who you are, then there are others who will accept you. Just like that saying, there’s someone for everyone 🙂

Lastly, everyone who is never hurt is not living properly! The fact you are hurt means you do just fine. I say, get comfortable with painful situations and take the lessons with you.

Cheers,
Stevano Otto