Sheena Mae S.

Alcala
LLB 1
February 6, 2019

“Scarred People”

The story of rejection I am to tell taught me the lesson of resilience. This is a story
of moving forward as well as a continuing challenge of being better than my old self.

Back in college, as I was taking opportunities in expanding my leadership experience

and advocacy, I looked out for student leader conferences I can apply for. I
remember the feeling of rush and determination as I juggle my academic
requirements and application requirements for these leadership conferences.
However, in the height of my enthusiasm, I experienced rejections. This was back
in third year college, when I applied for two business leadership assembly for student
leaders. My big motivation on applying for the two was for me to see a picture of
what the real world looks like first hand. Along with this was an idea of taking these
opportunities to better position myself for my future career. However, I did not
qualify as a participant in any of the two. The feeling of I receiving the two
consecutive rejections left me scarred for quite some time.

I remember telling myself that failed dreams will not define me as a person because
I can still do something. In the process of regaining the momentum of being
enthusiastic in the things I used to loved doing, I found myself being motivated by
the line that goes - your greatest and only competitor is your past self. With this is
mind, I saw myself applying again for conferences as such. This time, I am doing
the thing I love with resiliency and passion.

With such character, I had a more positive way of seeing failure. I used it as a
motivation to become better compared to my old self. I became more critical in my
decisions. I became more engrossed in the things I feel strongly about. I started not
settling for less. Then, I started qualifying to the conferences I apply to.

Looking back, it is really more than getting into the leadership conferences and
proving my worth, it was really about developing a character of being consistent and
resilient.

My ultimate takeaway was to never back down when you are working to make your
dreams into reality. And this, I believe, is one of the many reasons, why I am here
taking up law.