Risking Rejection with Community

Rejection is alive and well, in case you're wondering, in case you have been mighty successful lately.  For example, just last week, I got a rejection email - modern technology now allows people to reject you without the cost of a stamp!  Now, granted, it was for a job that I applied for 8+ months ago (Really, university-that-shall-remain-nameless, you've found someone else?  I'm shocked.  Color me speechless. I thought you were just nervous to contact me since my resume, which you read 8 months ago, impressed you that much... #sarcasmfont) and I already have a job that I'm excited about, but all the same... rejected.

And then there's that pesky crowdfunding thing.  We (you!) did help out, and share the cause and raise some money, but in truth, it was far below the goal amount, and it felt like a failure.  Which I said, when I emailed Nicole about the whole thing.  She had no idea that we had been doing it.  I felt a little weird, like I was saying "Hey, I tried to do this thing and it didn't really work out but its a thing that happened and your name is attached and so..." but she was so gracious, so touched that you kind strangers would care and do and all that business.  Turns out, she was the recent recipient of a laptop from another source, and so she wasn't going to plant our $70 in the backyard in the hopes that it would grow into an amount that might someday buy a computer.  However, she was still unable to get back to blogging/selling because she had been having some problems with her website, had a professional fix it, and was waiting on the room in the budget to pay said professional.  Guess what?  Even after GoFundMe's fees & Paypal's fees are taken out, there's still enough in the pot to cover those expenses.  AWESOME.  That's what that is.  So while I thought I might face rejection, that she might be like "Oh, well... that sure was nice of you to try to raise some $$ for a computer, even though it sort of failed miserably...*coughlosercough*" she wasn't and we were all able to be a part of helping fill a need!  Woohoo!

On a personal note, we recently told our southern friends about the fact that we are shortly moving 700 miles away (I know guys, it hurts to read, but we have to deal with the facts).  I'll tell you what, I was scared.  I didn't want to tell them that we were leaving, because I knew there was a good chance that they would shut us out.  Not because they're terrible friends; they're not.  But out of a sort of self-preservation, and a bit of a nod to ROI - "why continue to invest time if you're leaving?" is what I was afraid they would think.  And then I'd be without any friends for the next 3 months.  They didn't, though.  No one shut us out, no one said "Nice to have known you, I'm going to go find a friend who will be here in the fall..." Of course, no one is admitting that they're actually going to let us leave, but we'll deal with that when we have to.  So thankful that that risk didn't blow up in our faces.

So those are my riskes (risk-ez) of late.  No major failings, which is nice.  I've also gained a greater sense of community, something I never would have gotten if I hadn't put myself out there and taken a risk.  Have you risked lately?  Do tell!  Its so much more fun to risk with friends!  Just ask Amy!

<3 M.