Uninvited Week 4 Part 2

Chapter 11 in our reading for the week was entitled "Ten Things You Must Remember When Rejected" and it was well worth the read.  My orange highlighter was busy once again.  I don't really want to go through all 10 of the items, but there were several which I felt are worth my focus.

To preface this, however, are several thoughts to set the stage.  First is that the enemy, whoever or whatever that may be, likes to take any irrational fear that God is deserting us or that He doesn't have a plan for us and twist it into a control over our emotions, our thinking, and our actions. How true is this?  When I feel rejected, then that feeling creates my bad mood for the day (or week), I think I am worthless or that I did something wrong, and I withdraw into a cocoon that is tough to crack.  It happens.  It does.  In order to decrease these feelings of rejection, I need to remember a couple of things.

One is that one rejection doesn't mean that my life is doomed.  It is just a setback of ONE instance, not my entire life.  One disgruntled student telling me and everyone else who will listen that I am unfair and that she has always been an A+ Student in English until *I* picked her papers apart and wouldn't help her at all does not make me a bad teacher. It was hard NOT to focus on that instead of the many students who were very appreciative of my helping them improve their writing.  Gary reminded me of all of the students who had thanked me and all who walked across the stage with their degrees each time I slipped into the "I am a horrible teacher" depths.

Next - adjust.  Move on.  Negativity on the inside is often oozing on the outside as well and it hinders one's view of life.  Just because I wasn't asked to go out for lunch with some friends doesn't mean that my life is over or that I need to find a new group of friends. I need to remember the time I wasn't asked to go to lunch with the group (and it did happen at Ivy Tech) and after the fact several of the group asked where I had been.  They had looked for me and I was in the restroom, or I was downstairs checking my mail, or I was in the lab printing out papers..I can't remember exactly which one but I had been somewhere else other than my office when the spur-of-the-moment lunch happened.  Not forgotten. Not intentionally left out.  Now move on.  (and I ate my packed lunch instead that day!)

My third for the day is that "Today's disappointment is making room for tomorrow's appointment."  I was trying to think of a time when I was rejected and that made room for something even better for me.  I had forgotten about this (imagine that! - it didn't affect my life as much as I thought it would!).  When Sarah was my student teacher and I was bouncing around with ideas for a new career outside of West Central, she encouraged me to apply for student teaching supervisor at Purdue.  She contacted one of her instructors and we made the proper connections and submitted the paperwork for me to pursue something that I felt I would really enjoy.  Starting with Beth Dean in 1984, I had worked with several student teachers from St. Joe, from Purdue, from IU Northwest, and I really enjoyed the process. I could see myself traveling from school to school to check on student teachers, talk to mentor teachers, and encourage new teachers with their chosen careers.  Guess what?  I was rejected.  I didn't even get an interview.  No one called to talk to me about my application and resume.  Nothing happened except a letter saying that that my paperwork had been received and was being considered and nothing more.  The end.

I was bummed about that. I really thought I would love that job and I thought I had a lot to offer.  Well, evidently Purdue didn't think so.  Darn.  Not good enough.  Insert pouty face here.

In the meantime I had sent resumes to Ivy Techs in Lafayette, Valparaiso, and Logansport about securing an adjunct position.  I had no idea about regions or what was needed or if I were qualified.  All I knew was I had taught for Purdue, I had experience teaching, I enjoyed teaching the Purdue classes, and all three of those campuses were close.  Plus Blaine had told me that I needed to apply at Ivy Tech because I could teach better than the person he had for his English class (way to get in good with your mother-in-law, Blaine).

Soon after the rejection from Purdue an email came from Tom Ghering, English program chair at the Kokoko campus, an interview set up, and one of the first things he said to me was 'Do you want a full -time job here?' because I was credentialed.

The rest is history.

Rejection to be a student teaching supervisor at Purdue led to my 10 year career at Ivy Tech.  If I had been considered for the position at Purdue, I wouldn't have even considered Ivy Tech.  And that would have been a big mistake.  I loved my 10 years at Ivy Tech, and it was a perfect fit for me.

There was a reason for the rejection, wasn't there?  Today's disappointment is making room for tomorrow's appointment.  Yes, indeed.