How to Overcome Fear of Rejection

Fear of rejection can cause you to be uncomfortable meeting new people, taking risks or being honest. This fear is based on the idea that someone else has the ability to decide how you feel about you. Overcoming this fear involves accepting yourself.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Believe that you can take care of yourself. Being too dependent on what others think can cause fear of rejection. If you know that you can provide the things in your life that you value, you won't fear rejection. You need to set yourself up to succeed in life and to be able to provide the things you want by yourself.
2. Define your self-image in terms that are based on interpersonal qualities rather than external opinion. Focus on qualities like being honest, treating people with kindness or being generous. Overcoming fear of rejection requires that you're secure with who you are. When you know that your self-image is unaffected by other people you don't fear their rejection.
3. View rejection as opportunity. You can control certain aspects of your appearance, your behavior and your intelligence. Look at rejection as constructive criticism and incorporate the cause of the rejection into a plan to evolve.
4. Reward yourself for trying. The more you handle rejection, the easier it gets to approach a situation where you may be rejected and the closer you are to overcoming this fear. Set a goal to get five rejections. You may get a positive response or you may gain experience in surviving a rejection. You need to reward yourself for the effort and focus on the fact that you tried rather than the actual results.