Life Will Knock You Down More Times Than You Can Count, Don't Knock Yourself Down

A few months ago I completed an online application for a job, I advanced to the next round of the company’s selection process where I completed a phone interview, and then I further advanced to the last round of the selection process: the personal interview. By this point I am feeling fairly confident that I am a prime candidate for the position. After my interview, I felt as if I had the job. I actually began to look at apartments and telling a few people that I would be living in Memphis (the company’s headquarters). I was told when to be expecting a call regarding my post interview status with the company. On the day of the expected phone call, my confidence convinced me so flatteringly that I had the position in the bag, I called a few family members for advice on how I could tell the company that I am interested in the job, but also waiting to hear back from other opportunities before I accept the position. To my surprise, the phone call I received from the company was only to inform me that they did not have a position for me, there were many qualified applicants, making the selection process very competitive, and that they wish me the best of luck in my job search. Needless to say this circumstance was a blow to my ego; life had knocked me down. Optimism was completely absent from my cognitive processing of the event. I never saw the rejection I received in a positive light; all I could focus on was what I might have done wrong, why I wasn’t good enough, what the other candidates had that I didn’t have, and how this was an indication that I will get rejected from all the other job opportunities I have applied for. When life knocked me down, I kicked myself instead of trying to get up. As I lay in bed drowning myself in pity and watching Parenthood, a scene from the show began to deeply resonate within me. Adam Braverman, a fatherly character, tell his niece, “Life will knock you down more times than you can count, don’t knock yourself down.” Call it coincidence or whatever you will that this is the episode I left off watching and picked it up on a day the life lesson presented was extremely applicable to my life.

All to many inspirational quotes derive from the common notion that every time life knocks you down and you get back up, you are building character. While I believe this to be true, it is also important to note that sometimes you might be knocking yourself down. Life knocked me down when I got rejected by the company in Memphis, but I was knocking myself down by allowing myself to believe that this rejection was an indication of the turn out for all my future job opportunities. After contemplation about Braverman’s quote, I decided to no longer let rejection fuel my fears, but better allow rejection to feed my hunger to accomplish my dreams. Don’t let your aspirations be soluble in fear and self doubt—you are only knocking yourself down. Be ambitious, only taking a fall when “life” happens, and never selling yourself short of an opportunity. By doing this you eliminate a lot of “what if” type of wondering which can drive a person mad, and replace it with a sense of knowing what you never had wasn’t due to lack of effort.