Don't Be Defeated by Defeat

Waiting sucks. I know that it is something that has to happen with my career, but it doesn't mean that I have to like it. We wait for days to find out if we made it to the first round of callbacks. We then wait for weeks on end to find out if we made it into the project or not.

Then it happens...you get that call, you see that email and your heart races. Did I get it? Did I not?

It nearly always leads in with, "Thank you for auditioning..." and you wish platitudes would just get off the page for the yes or the no.

Then come the critical conjunction. In my career thus far, "and" means that they are going to offer me a roll. Like in improv, it is that critical "yes, and..." moment.
When I see an, "unfortunately," "however," or "but" I know that I have not been their selection.

There have been moments when the result of this conjunction decide my mood for the next 36-hours. I would often let the rejection defeat me. If waiting is common in the acting world, rejection is its elder sibling. Rejections are so common that you eventually have to anesthetize yourself to it.

This I have been struggling with lately. I want to have a job, I want to have my career work out, but I want those to happen without the pain of rejection.

However, as my post's title says, don't be defeated. Rejection is something that I have to get over (and yes, this post is reminding me of that fact) and accept as part of my career. I know that there will be loads of rejections yet there will also be loads of successes. If I maintain a view of the positive, I know that I will accept rejection with good graces and perseverance to improve for the next time I try.

As long as I try, I know I will be happy with myself.

To quote comedian Jonathan Winters, "I couldn’t wait for success, so I went ahead without it."

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