Risky Business :: #RiskRejection

So I have a bloggy friend.  One that I've actually taken the steps to meet in real life (IRL, in case you were wondering what that acronym stood for).  And she's fabulous.  The kind of friend who you instantly feel at home with, even if, hypothetically, you've just driven 3 hours with the top off of your Jeep in order to meet for the first time ever.  The kind of friend where, when you end up staying long past everyone else has gone home, just keeps chatting with you and it doesn't even feel weird.  Amy, she's my jam.

So Amy hit me up via email last week (and yes, I've been told that once I turn 30, I'm going to have to stop saying things like "hit me up" and "amazeballs" and "totes ridic") and said "hey, want to get rejected?  It'll quite possibly be demoralizing and definitely be scary."

She's compelling, that Amy.  So I said "Count me in!"

Here's the issue - rejection, or the fear of it, quite often keeps people from doing things.  Sometimes, the things that we're kept from doing coulda, woulda, been awesome.  We let fear hold us back from being movers and shakers and muffins-for-neighbors bakers.  I've said it before, and I'll say it again (mostly because I have to hear things 109 times before they sink in), allowing yourself (myself) to be ruled by unnamed fear is stupid and lousy and not what God wants for you.  

In order to fight that fear of rejection, Amy watched some video by some guy (it was much more legit than I'm making it seem, I promise) (also - I'm going to have to stop saying "legit" too, apparently), and he postured that in order not to be ruled by the fear of rejection, we ought to numb ourselves to it, so that the fear has no power over our decisions or actions.  So a group of us banded together in order to get rejected.

Doesn't that sound like a party you want to join?  The hashtag is #RiskRejection, in case you really do!

Some of the people I'm joining up with are taking risks that seem big and really really risky and (honestly) some seem more important than mine.  But it doesn't matter.  What matters is answering with a "yes" whenever God says to do something, whenever your heart yearns for something that you aren't sure you'll be able to do, whenever you just can't shake the itch that "someone" really ought to be doing that, and that you'd love to but you're sure someone else should...

My risks seem.. small.  They do.  They're not huge, and they likely won't alter my entire life in one fell swoop.  But I'm going to take them all the same.  I'm going to put myself out there, and I will very assuredly get rejected.  I know I will, really.  But I'll take my lumps and try again, because I want to be held back no longer.  And if I can build up this immunity to fear, perhaps someday I'll see a big risk and I'll just up and take it.

My risky business:

• I'm submitting 3 papers for publication in peer-reviewed journals.  By May.  This is something I ought to do if I want to graduate with my PhD.  I know this isn't something a lot of people talk about, so here's a breakdown of how it goes.
• You write the best paper you can, taking care to dot your i's and cross your t's and cite all of the proper people, but not too many because you have to produce something dazzling from your own brain.
• You submit your precious writing to the best journal in the appropriate area.
• You get rejected.  Sometimes with suggestions for improvement.  Sometimes with ridicule.
• You follow the suggestions, make changes, and re-submit.
• You get rejected again.
• You choose a slightly less prestigious journal, and submit.
• You get rejected again.
• Repeat.
• If you're lucky, eventually the rejection process stops and you get accepted somewhere.
• I'm going to do this 3 times in 5 months.  Because I'll be better for it, even if some of the "suggestions" might be scathing.
• I'm going to keep saying "yes" when God says "hey, why don't you..."
• Like last week when God said "Hey, why don't you contact that missionary you follow and offer to help them out in some way." and I did and I've never heard back... [crickets] sound so much like rejection.
• Crowdfunding.  That's right.  I've got a crowdfunding website live, and it's really out there, asking strangers for money.  Weird, right?  And also - If I don't meet my goal, I'll feel dumb.  And foolish.  And rejected.  BUT.  But.  I'm gonna do it.  So if you've stuck with me this long, you're seeing my real risk, the one that makes me nervous and sweaty-palmed and kind of want to say "how about I just don't include this bullet and I write my nice safe post about rejection" and then I see the irony in that for this post, so here we gooo!!

Join me here!
Or check out Nicole's blog here!

I've followed Nicole's blog for a few years, I think.  And she's fabulous.  She's witty and real and encouraging.  She's also raising a dashing little man who is 1 month younger than RG, and I'm eventually going to broach the subject of an arranged marriage, but that is neither here nor there.  The thing is this: Nicole has had some serious trouble with technology, and she's been burned (figuratively) by 2 laptops in the past 30 days.  She's out of luck in that department.  So she's decided to take a break from blogging.  Which brings me to the crowdfunding website.  I'd like to bless Nicole with a new laptop so that she can (1) keep encouraging women and sharing her words, (2) continue to grow her online business so she can continue to stay home with her boy, and (3) feel incredibly special.  It's a secret, right now, which isn't hard to keep since she's got limited access to blogs and things (see: broken laptop).

So that's my real risk.  I'm trying to do this thing.  And I feel about 1087% sure it won't work.  But I want it to, so I'm trying.  And now I'm sharing.  BOOM.  

If you're interested in helping Nicole out, the website is here.  And I'm going to share it on my facebook page, too.  But really, I'm just glad that you've stuck with me to the end of what seems to me to be a VERY long and winding post.  Thanks for hearing me.  Are you feeling risky?  Want to get rejected?  Link up with Amy, too!  There's still time!

<3 M.