cabbages and rejection letters

There comes a dark time in all our lives when we've hit subterranean low and must venture through the deepest corners of ourselves in search of something, anything to remind us that we're still human and living and deserving of the air we breathe. Whether it be the end of a relationship, a prom dress that just doesn't quite zip up, or a stinging email from one's dream school, rejection claws at our heart and makes us feel worthless and dejected.

As I sit here and cry into my McFlurry with "sad jazz" playing on Spotify, I can't help but think of the cabbage merchant from Avatar: The Last Airbender. Our hero goes out everyday with his little green, Vitamin-A packed dreams only to have some bald kid and his friends come and knock them into cobblestone salad. That's where I saw my dreams and aspirations land after reading the typical "it's not you it's us" bullshit: lying in pieces along Ba Sing Se's other filth. 

But what I keep trying to tell myself and what you, my friend, must also remember, is that although the cabbage man may feel frustrated and throw a couple curses at the universe for completely disregarding his high GPA and impressive extracurriculars, he'll get up in the morning and carry on with the next episode, the next bald-kid-disruption, the next rejection.  Three seasons of wasted cabbages hinder him not. Instead, he keeps faith in his cart of dreams and eventually establishes his own company, even having a metal statue made in his honor.

People often say that rejection does not define us. Well it may not define us, but it sure as hell defines which paths we're taking and which paths have locked gates and barking Rottweilers. What we must remember is that we're all cabbage merchants, drifting along the streets of life with our carts of dreams and hoping that someday we'll have a statue made after us.

My friend Carly says that character defines success and she's damn right. Success doesn't care about the the lover who just didn't love you, the prom dress you didn't wear, the school you didn't go to, the cabbages you didn't sell. Success cares about how beautiful and intelligent you feel and how you've paved your own path, regardless of the obstacles in the way. 

We are our achievements and failures. We are our heartaches and joy and we are the stars for which we reach. Remember this the next time you face rejection. Remember to laugh in its face and keep fighting because life is more than a couple of heartbreaks and spilled produce.