People On Twitter Are Sharing Their Rejections & It's All Too Real

Skip navigation!

hair & makeup by Andi Yancey; produced by Julie Borowsky; produced by Lorenna Gomez-Sanchez; modeled by Marcel Contreras; photographed by Megan Madden; styled by Michelle Li.

Rejection is a part of life that somehow always stings, no matter how much we were expecting it, or how much we tell ourselves we weren't really that bothered in the first place.

But at the same time, rejection is also a universal part of the human experience. How many people can say they've never been rejected – by a company they wanted to work for, someone they had a crush on, or a team or clique they would love have joined?

This week, people on Twitter have been posting their real-life rejection stories using the hashtag #ShareYourRejections. Some of these stories are pretty lighthearted and others are sad but ultimately uplifting tales of perseverance.

AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT

Revered writer Malorie Blackman – the former Children's Laureate – revealed that she was rejected 82 times by publishers, experiencing blatant racism along the way, before someone finally said yes to her.

#ShareYourRejections 82 rejection letters before a publisher finally said yes. Rejected 5 or 6 times by the Arts Council for one of their writing bursaries. Noughts & Crosses rejected for a literary award cos 'it would've shown more insight if a white author had written it.'!
— Malorie Blackman (@malorieblackman) August 16, 2018

But some of the other stories being shared are simply brutal and horribly relatable. Check out a selection of people's #ShareYourRejections posts below.

I was told by a casting team for a well known British film that I wasn’t suitable for an audition because they were only looking for white girls for the four lead females.

I’m white, but even I wasn’t ‘white enough’#ShareYourRejections #RejectTheRacism
— Nicola Thorp (@nicolathorp_) August 18, 2018

I wanted to review theatre shows but everyone told me no because I didn’t have any experience. So I started a blog and wrote about the shows I went to see. No I run my blog full time and have 40 people writing for me. #shareyourrejections
— West End Wilma (@westendwilma) August 18, 2018

I was diagnosed on the autism spectrum as a child. Told by teachers that I would never graduate high school or have a job, told by peers to my face to kill myself. I now have my own consulting company and travel around the world talking about autism. #ShareYourRejections
— Amy Gravino (@AmyGravino) August 17, 2018

I wrote a poem for my boyfriend. Several years after I married him, he told me a story of an old girlfriend who’d written him a terrible poem & laughed at how bad it was. He didn’t remember the poem was from me. Rejection form letter from an agent? Bring it! #ShareYourRejections
— Lillian Blaire ? (@LillianBlaire) August 16, 2018

Sorry but I can’t do #ShareYourRejections. Being an actor is around 99% rejection. Even when you don’t know you’re being rejected, somebody, somewhere is rejecting you. Nor do I have an “And look at me now!” glow-up. I’m still here, just grafting. As you were.
— Tanya Moodie (@tanyamoodie) August 17, 2018

I was rejected from drama schools at 18 & again at 22. I’ve been rejected from jobs that I didn’t think my career would survive without. For my looks, disability, accent, & much more. I was told I would never work in a musical. It just made me fight harder. #ShareYourRejections
— Beth Hinton-Lever (@BethHintonLever) August 18, 2018

#ShareYourRejections Article reviewer wrote to me that Sarah Purcell (who is me) has done this better.
— Sarah J. Purcell (@SarahJPurcell) August 16, 2018

#ShareYourRejections

Once I got a standard rejection from a dream publication.

Then, A YEAR LATER, the editor wrote me: "I still think about your story, is there any way you could resent it?"

So I resent it!

He wrote back and said, "Oh, now I remember why we rejected it."
— sarahaswell (@sarahaswell) August 17, 2018

People are still sharing their knock-back anecdotes using the #ShareYourRejections hashtag, so it's not too late to post one of your own. Sharing one might even take the sting out of it.