Things can always get worse
Rejection sucks. However, there is always something that sucks more.
Yesterday afternoon I had a rejection that left me feeling down and discouraged. I headed out on my afternoon walk to my son's school. About a block from my house, I was attacked by two dogs. The pit bull and mutt charged me from 100 feet away, and then each lunged at my chest. I jumped back to avoid being bitten. A passing truck scared them off, and the driver asked if I needed help. I said no, and retreated down the street.
Looking back, I then saw the dogs chasing a bicyclist. The bicyclist came towards me, and the dogs saw me again.
I ran for my life.
A woman in an SUV yelled at me to get in. Like something out of an action movie, I tore around her car and leaped into the passenger seat. Behind us, a white truck stopped and picked up the dogs and then drove off very fast.
Upon my return home a short time later, I found the city animal control truck at a neighbor's house. This neighbor had witnessed my attack. He said he grabbed a hammer and rushed out to my defense, and when the dogs backed off that first time, he went inside and called animal control. He said, "Thank God you weren't bit. If you hadn't jumped back, they would have got you."
I am thankful that the owner grabbed their dogs, and yet enraged at their irresponsibility. They haven't trained their dogs or socialized them. They didn't stop to see if anyone had been mauled. But at the very least, the dogs were not on the loose 15 minutes later when those streets would have been flooded with dozens of kids walking home from school. It could have been so much worse.
That rejection sucked, but you know what? I'm alive, intact, and ready to be rejected again today.
Yesterday afternoon I had a rejection that left me feeling down and discouraged. I headed out on my afternoon walk to my son's school. About a block from my house, I was attacked by two dogs. The pit bull and mutt charged me from 100 feet away, and then each lunged at my chest. I jumped back to avoid being bitten. A passing truck scared them off, and the driver asked if I needed help. I said no, and retreated down the street.
Looking back, I then saw the dogs chasing a bicyclist. The bicyclist came towards me, and the dogs saw me again.
I ran for my life.
A woman in an SUV yelled at me to get in. Like something out of an action movie, I tore around her car and leaped into the passenger seat. Behind us, a white truck stopped and picked up the dogs and then drove off very fast.
Upon my return home a short time later, I found the city animal control truck at a neighbor's house. This neighbor had witnessed my attack. He said he grabbed a hammer and rushed out to my defense, and when the dogs backed off that first time, he went inside and called animal control. He said, "Thank God you weren't bit. If you hadn't jumped back, they would have got you."
I am thankful that the owner grabbed their dogs, and yet enraged at their irresponsibility. They haven't trained their dogs or socialized them. They didn't stop to see if anyone had been mauled. But at the very least, the dogs were not on the loose 15 minutes later when those streets would have been flooded with dozens of kids walking home from school. It could have been so much worse.
That rejection sucked, but you know what? I'm alive, intact, and ready to be rejected again today.