Chamblee54

Invisibilia is a new podcast from NPR. The first episode deals with fear. The first half is about a scientific explanation about snake slithering. The second half is a sales promotion for a company called Rejection Therapy. Does NPR stand for Novice Public Relations?
Jason Comely was an IT guy, living with four cats in Ontario. He had lost a girlfriend, and was not doing too well. He decided that he was afraid of rejection.
The way to overcome this fear was to make a game of it. Every day, he would try to get rejected. Mr. Comely was asking people for strange things, in hope of being rejected. Somehow, this was supposed to build up his mojo, and make him more confident.
Soon, there was a little cottage industry. There was a website, and a twitter account. Rejection cards are available for purchase. “Rejection Therapy comes in three flavours: Classic (physical card deck is available at The Game Crafter), Entrepreneur and Blue Pill Edition. These cards are not essential to the game but handy for motivation and direction.”
PG heard this, and started to get angry. The word selfish comes to mind. Rejection therapy is all about building the confidence of the game player. Did someone say game player?
Many people do not like to say no. It is a source of stress. Many people are, with justification, afraid of what will happen when they “reject” this request. Most people have had bad experiences with saying no to people. When you hear this request, you don’t know that it is a game, designed to build the confidence of the game player. You might be dealing with a crazy person, angry that they are not getting their way. Don’t worry about it, you don’t matter.
Jason Comely “Don’t even bother trying to be cool. Just get out there and get rejected. And sometimes it’s going to get dirty, but that’s OK because you’re going to feel great after. You’re going to feel like, wow, I disobeyed my fear. You know, I disobeyed fear.”
What about the other person? This person is going to get dirty also. But, it’s all OK because you are going to feel great because you disobeyed your fear. It is all about you. The person who is dealing with your meant-to-be-rejected request is just a pawn in your game.
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.