I have decided that my next great life adventure is going to be collecting 2,000 rejections.
Yes. You read that correctly.
Two thousand.
Not two. Not twenty. Not a cute little “put myself out there” challenge that I abandon after three uncomfortable emails.
Two. Thousand. Rejections.
At this point, you’re probably wondering if I have lost the plot. And honestly? Maybe. But I think there is something beautifully unhinged about deciding that the thing you have spent your whole life avoiding is now the thing you are actively looking for.
Because rejection has always had a very dramatic reputation.
We treat it like a monster hiding under the bed. We whisper about it. We avoid it. We make decisions based on the possibility of experiencing it.
“What if they say no?”
“What if I’m not good enough?”
“What if I embarrass myself?”
“What if nobody cares?”
I get it. Nobody enjoys rejection. Nobody is walking around hoping for a beautifully worded email that says, “Thank you for your application, unfortunately…” (And yes, my email is flooded with those).
But I think we’ve given rejection way too much power.
But what if rejection is just evidence that you are actually participating in your own life? Is it a museum of failures or a gallery of trying?
And then it dawned on me; you cannot be rejected from opportunities you never chase. You cannot fail at things you never attempt. You cannot have an amazing, ridiculous, slightly chaotic life while sitting quietly in the corner waiting for someone to say yes.
And I am tired of waiting for my life to begin in the ways I want.
I want to grab the world by the beard and ask it what it’s going to do about it.
I want to ask for things that feel too big. I want to apply for things that feel slightly out of reach. I want to send the emails that make my stomach do backflips. I want to pitch ideas before they are perfectly polished. I want to create things before I feel completely ready.
Because what is the alternative?
A life where I have a folder full of ideas I was too scared to pursue?
A collection of dreams that died quietly because I was worried about looking foolish?
Absolutely not.
I would rather be the person with a thousand rejection stories than the person with a thousand “I almost did that” stories.
The funny thing about chasing rejection is that you are secretly chasing opportunity.
Because every rejection means you tried.
Every rejection means you entered a room.
Every rejection means you asked.
And somewhere between all those no’s are the yeses.
The unexpected yes.
The life-changing yes.
The “I cannot believe this worked” yes.
The yes you would have never reached if you were too busy protecting yourself from hearing no.
Now, I am not going to sit here and pretend that every rejection will be cute and character-building. Some of them will probably hurt. Some of them will make me question my entire existence while dramatically staring out of a window like I am in a music video.
Some will probably have me eating snacks and wondering why I thought I was the chosen one.
But I also know myself.
I know I will get back up.
Because the goal was never to avoid disappointment. The goal was to become someone who can survive it.
Someone who can take a hit and keep moving.
Someone who can lose and still believe there is more coming.
And there will be losses. Of course there will.
There will be things I want that do not happen. People who do not see the vision. Doors that stay locked. Plans that fall apart. Moments where I will have to admit that something I worked for did not work out.
But there will also be wins.
Oh, there will be wins.
There will be opportunities I could not have planned. People I could not have predicted. Moments that remind me why I kept going. There will be little victories that feel like the universe quietly saying, “See? Keep going.”
And I want all of it.
The highs. The lows. The embarrassing moments. The unbelievable moments.
The entire messy, chaotic, beautiful experience of trying.
Maybe this is my way of becoming fearless.
Not by becoming someone who never feels fear.
But by becoming someone who feels fear, feels ridiculous, feels uncertain, and still presses send.
So here’s to 2,000 rejections.
Here’s to collecting no’s like little trophies.
Here’s to being too ambitious, too curious, too hopeful, and maybe slightly too delusional.
Here’s to building a life so big that rejection becomes proof that I am finally playing at a level where rejection is possible.
Because I would rather knock on 2,000 doors and have most of them close than spend my life wondering what was behind them.
The wins are coming.
The losses are coming too.
And I am coming with them.
WITH LOVE, ALWAYS
The girl with the bright bright dreams
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Myra Trudea Okumu 