On Rejection, Licking the Wounds, and Getting Right Back on The Horse.

Sometimes life has a funny way of helping you out

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

This past week brought a pretty big career disappointment my way. And while I can’t go into details, I will say it’s quite a blow to have something very big almost green lit, only to have it reconsidered at the last second. With very little information about why that happened, I’ve not much to go on in terms of what, if anything, I could improve on. So, like a lot of life, we lick our wounds, get back on the horse, and press forward, ready for the next opportunity.

The experience, which is one I’ve been through more than once, has inspired me to reflect on that very nature of creative life in this week’s post. The life of a professional artist is often fraught with rejection, near misses, and inexplicable failures where we may not always know what went wrong. And yet we press on, almost as if it’s some sort of calling to create, because we all know had we become a doctor like our mothers wanted, we wouldn’t be dealing with so much disappointment.

The disappointment is something that comes from the rejection, but also from those around us. How do we explain what just happened to those who work in more practical industries? How would someone who works 9-5, Monday to Friday, particularly if in a non-competitive environment, or is in a position that doesn’t require promotion to reach full potential, what we are going through? I’ll admit I’ve felt judged about it from those who haven’t ever experienced it, many, many times over.

But we still press on. We keep the faith in ourselves and in the value of our work. We celebrate our past wins, and we seek to improve ourselves and prepare for future celebrations. And they will come, perhaps marred with other disappointments, but the celebrations do come. I was reminded of this in a random way this past Sunday. After taking Saturday to feel a bit down over what had just happened, I decided to get back on the horse on Sunday and look ways to press on. And then, as if I had asked for a sign or some sort of cosmic support, I was presented with two stories of failure from now-famous and successful artists.

The first came in the form of a documentary about the band Blue Rodeo. If you’re not familiar, they are a staple of the Canadian music scene with many awards, accolades, and decades of music to their credit. They are now a part of the Canadian musical identity and would easily make any list of best Canadian bands. What I didn’t know was that their first album was considered a flop, and that if it wasn’t for a brief encounter over a beer in Toronto, the band may have completely disappeared. What happened was a Much Music employee was passed a tape of the band’s music video over a few social pints in a pub. He loved the song and put in it heavy rotation at the television station, making the single — a song that radio station’s weren’t touching — a huge hit, cementing Blue Rodeo’s place as a serious act on the scene.

The second story was more anecdotal and is about Carrie Underwood. I really don’t know that much about her, so forgive me if this is already common knowledge. Apparently, when she was a fifteen, record executives worked with her to set up this huge first-look kind of thing. Essentially she was being groomed to become the next big thing — and it all fell apart, leaving her with nothing. Flash forward a few years later and Carrie auditions for American Idol, eventually winning the fourth season of the show. She’s now an eight-time Grammy Award winning artist.

The point I’m trying to make is that success doesn’t always come from where you think it will. Sometimes when it looks like you’re going to fail, another avenue to success opens up. What would have happened if either Blue Rodeo or Carrie Underwood had given up the first time they were told their art wasn’t good enough? We’d be missing decades of music that millions of people have loved and praised.

Sometimes life has a funny way of steering you down strange paths, and just when you think you’ve gotten lost, your destination is right in front of you.

Keep going. You still have plenty of time — and paths — to success.