5 Ways to Reframe Rejection Beyond The Classroom
Beginning your journey as an educator beyond the classroom is filled with excitement, challenges, and endless possibilities. But as you navigate the path of transforming the education landscape using your brilliance, it’s inevitable that you’ll encounter rejection along the way. The key to success is to reframe rejection into something more positive.
Whether you’re seeking flexible jobs for teachers or starting an education business, rejection can manifest in many different forms. It might be ignored network requests on LinkedIn or not hearing back from jobs you applied to months ago.
If we are going to persevere through rejection, it’s important to reframe our relationship to it! In this blog, we’ll explore five tips to overcome and even embrace rejection while staying compassionate toward ourselves and turning setbacks into success.
5 Ways to Reframe Rejection Beyond the Classroom
Remember failure is a catalyst of growth.
When we experience rejection or setbacks, it can feel disheartening. It’s totally natural for these feelings to emerge, and when they do, it’s helpful to spend some time showing up for ourselves. This is one of the most important steps to reframe rejection as a learning experience.
Partake in positive self-talk. Pay attention to your mind machine and how it spirals into a negative space. For example, after experiencing rejection, it’s common to tell yourself you didn’t deserve the job, connection, or thing you worked hard for. Acknowledge the feelings of discomfort that arise, take a few deep breaths, and repeat helpful affirmations such as, “I am worthy of a sustainable and happy life” or “Failure doesn’t define me.”
Do something you enjoy. When you are experiencing frustration or feelings of overwhelm due to rejection, it’s helpful to take some time doing something fun! Go for a walk with your family, watch a favorite movie, get ice cream, or find ways to use your creativity. Taking a break is always a good idea and helps you move forward with intention.
Remember your skills are valuable. Once you’re able to think clearly, use journaling to reflect on how your teaching skills, talents, and gifts will make a difference. Use simple sentence stems, such as:
I have so much to offer the world. Some of my offerings include ______, ______, and ______.
My gift of _____ is important and valuable.
People tell me I’m really good at _____ and I believe this is true because ______.
Some of my skills include ______, ______, and _______. These skills are valuable because they help (students, teachers, education professionals) ___________.
Once you’re in a grounded place, remember that each rejection offers valuable insights and is an opportunity for growth.
One of the best ways to reframe rejection is to reflect on feedback (if it’s offered). Analyze your resume and cover letter for improvement, and reach out to fellow educators innovating beyond the classroom to gain tips and insights. Embracing failure as a catalyst for growth allows us to adapt and come back stronger!
Embrace feedback.
When you’re exploring how to deal with rejection, one of the best steps you can take is to try to embrace it. Although difficult, rejection can be a valuable source of feedback.
As teachers, we might be used to receiving feedback from administrators in punitive ways. Regardless of our current relationship to feedback, we can shift our thinking and remember that within each piece of feedback there’s important data to collect.
Maybe the feedback provides us with necessary information to see that a specific ed tech company or educational institution isn’t the best fit for us, or doesn’t align with our values. Alternatively, maybe the feedback illustrates the need to get clear on how our skills are the perfect fit for a particular organization or role. Spending time annotating a job description or building out a few versions of our cover letter can provide us with a better understanding of how to speak about our skills during the next interview.
Cultivate resilience.
One of the best ways to overcome rejection is to work on building resilience. Resilience is all about harnessing the inner strength that helps you rebound from a setback or challenge.
Some ways to stay rooted in resilience include focusing on your long-term vision and setting goals to accomplish it, staying motivated by connecting with supportive peers, and maintaining a positive mindset through journaling, mindfulness, and gratitude practice.
When you work on reframing rejection, it’s important to remember that every rejection brings you one step closer to finding the right opportunity. It can even be helpful to think of rejection as redirection!
Find support.
Surround yourself with a supportive network of educators who understand the challenges that arise when working beyond the classroom. Sharing experiences and insights with others who have faced rejection can be comforting and empowering, helping you persevere through difficult times. When you’re feeling overwhelmed, feeling seen and heard by a community of like-minded educators will help you recognize that you aren’t alone! You can also rely on your community for tips, ideas, and ways to reframe rejection and move forward to turn setbacks into success.
Celebrate small wins.
In the face of rejection, it's easy to overlook the progress you've made. Take the time to celebrate small wins along the way. Recognize and appreciate the milestones you achieve (e.g., landing an interview, creating a stellar resume, and connecting with an inspirational former colleague), regardless of their size.
Celebrating these moments will keep you motivated, reinforce your worthiness with so many skills to offer the world, and remind you that rejection is just a temporary setback on the path to success.
Get More Support for Life Beyond the Classroom
When choosing to embark on the rewarding and challenging journey of forming a sustainable and profitable life beyond the classroom, rejection will be an inevitable part of your journey. When you work to reframe rejection, remember to take care of yourself, step into your confidence, and keep moving forward.
It’s also important to never forget that even the most successful education innovators and edupreneurs have faced numerous rejections but persevered nonetheless.
If you’re ready to further your education career outside of the classroom, learn more about how Educator Forever can help. Explore our Beyond The Classroom program to learn more about alternative careers for teachers and other ways to work flexibly in education.
About The Author
April Brown (M.Ed) is Educator Forever’s community facilitator and a curriculum coach for the Curriculum Development Foundations program. In 2015, April began designing curriculum and writing articles for an EdTech company as a side gig while she was teaching in Placencia, Belize. After having her daughter in 2016, April was eager to use her unique experience teaching and leading in mainstream and alternative settings in the United States and internationally to work remotely while still making a difference in education.
The Beyond the Classroom course empowered April to leverage her skills as a compassionate disruptor and out-of-the-box thinker to excel as an instructional/well-being coach, adjunct instructor of a Trauma Supportive Schools course, curriculum developer, and writer for publications such as PBS SoCal, Education.com, and Britannica for Parents. April is an advocate for teachers and students – inside and outside of the classroom. You can find April in rural Vermont spending time with her husband, two beautiful daughters, and charming rottweilers.