Rejection Nearly Broke Me. But I’m Grateful It Didn’t

I used to let people’s opinions define me. The day I stopped, everything changed.

I still remember the first time I pitched myself and got ignored.

No reply. No response. Not even a “Thanks, but we’re not interested.”

I had spent two hours crafting that email. Reread it five times. Obsessed over every sentence. Hit send. And then... silence. For days.

I kept refreshing my inbox like something might change. Like maybe the email got lost and they were just busy. Like maybe I still had a shot. But deep down, I already knew. They read it. Decided I wasn’t worth replying to. Moved on. And I sat there, in my bedroom with a cheap desk and an empty calendar, wondering if this whole idea of being self-employed was just me pretending and I had no idea what I was doing.

I didn’t even eat dinner that night. Just lay on the bed scrolling, comparing myself to people who seemed like they had it all figured out. People who said “just be consistent” while landing six-figure clients. People who posted screenshots of Stripe notifications and said “This could be you.”

I told myself I must…