If there’s a universal human experience that unites all of humanity, it’s that we’ve all had to deal with rejection at some point or another. It’s impossible to live your life without shooting your shot when the time comes, whatever your shot may be. 

But unfortunately, not everyone can be successful 100% of the time. From contests to job opportunities, to romantic endeavors, all of us have been subject to discovering that not everyone thinks we’re as great as we think we are. Rejection, unfortunately, is a necessary part of life.

On Saturday, Twitter user @Eden_Eats asked her followers to share the stories of their “harshest rejection”.

What was your harshest rejection?

I’ll go first. One time, a super charming guy I had a crush on took me out to dinner a few times, invited me to a swanky gala, had me over for Thanksgiving, and then introduced me to his buddy as “a girl I wish was my sister”.

— Eden Dranger (@Eden_Eats) November 9, 2019

Quickly, @Eden_Eats’s tweet about being epically friend-zoned got almost 4,000 retweets and almost 65,000 likes. All sorts of people responded to her post with stories one-upping each other on the various humiliating ways they’d been rejected. As people continued to share all the ways they’ve been let down, the tweet quickly started trending.

As usual, Twitter users jumped at the chance of publicly roasting themselves.

But, in all honesty, there’s something cathartic in sharing your emotional scars with the public. Misery loves company, right?

What was possibly most surprising about these tweets is all of the creative ways people came up with to tell others they’re not interested. Why couldn’t a simple “no, thanks” suffice?

The stories Twitter users shared ranged from the bad…

I once went speed dating and I was the only guy who showed up, there were 14 women.

All 14 chose to stay single than go out on a date with me.

— Brendan (@BrezzyHayter) November 10, 2019

Ouch. It’s one thing to be rejected once. It’s an entirely different story to be rejected 14 times. 

To the ugly…

My fiance bought a house without telling me. So, I took that as a subtle hint.

— Pester Clark (@PesterClark) November 10, 2019

The upside to many of these stories is that the posters obviously dodged a bullet by getting out of these relationships. Even if this woman’s fiance didn’t buy a house without telling her, he was obviously not very skilled in the communication department in the first place.

To the downright horrifying.

In 7th grade I was invited to a slumber party. The mom came home from work, said "There is no slumber party." We all got in the van for her to take us home. She took me home first. I found out later she took all the other girls back for the slumber party.

— ❄️Winter Wendy-land❄️ (@jamberta2) November 10, 2019

Unfortunately, the rejections that are the most painful and linger for the longest time are the ones that happen during your childhood. When you’re young, you’re already impressionable. When you add a giant dose of rejection to the mix during your formative years, the experience can stick with you. 

Naturally, Latinos of Twitter hopped on the bandwagon to share their harshest stories of rejection.

Sometimes, sharing your painful memories makes you feel less alone. Reading stories about how everyone goes through the same crappy experiences and how so many of them overcame their previous pain is a beacon of light to many people. When you’re rejected, it can be easy to feel like you’re the most unwanted person in the world. The popularity of this topic on Twitter proved that this couldn’t be less true.

This Latino felt rejected after his online love interest ghosted him for being honest about his mental health journey.

I matched with this girl on Bumble and we hit it off. Talked for weeks until one day she asked me about my semi colon tattoo. I opened up told her about my struggle with depression. She immediately cut me off and said I was toxic and she couldn’t have people like me in her life.

— J E S S (@puertoricangeek) November 10, 2019

Being vulnerable and honest upfront is the best way to weed out the people in your life who don’t belong there. 

This Latina was left confused after she acted on what ended up being mixed signals

Once a guy called me at 11pm and asked me if he could come over to my place, I said yes, and when he arrived and I made a move on him (I sat on his lap and tried to kiss him), he moved his face and told me he couldn't do it.
I was shocked and still don't know why he came. ????

— Sofía Gómez Uribe (@SofiGomezU) November 11, 2019

Haven’t we all been in that situation where we were sure someone liked us and we ended up getting it all wrong? This girl is not alone. 

This Latina shared the saga of her boyfriend who left her for another woman with “bigger boobs”

about this girl that "came back" to his life, he said "I'm obsessed with her, that's why I couldn't continue with 'us' but truth is you're not really my type, she's tall and has really big boobs."
Me: ????????????

— Martha Pratz (@smarthypratzy) November 11, 2019

We wish we could feel bad for all of these people, but some of them so obviously dodged a bullet that we’re happy for them. 

This Latina’s boyfriend moved her out of his place while she was SLEEPING.

Longish story short- he bagged all my stuff up while I was sleeping and took my key. The girl I wasn’t supposed to be worried about moved in the next day…

— Victoria Tovar (@vee_managed) November 11, 2019

The craziest thing about some of these stories is that the person doing the rejection is often too cowardly to tell the other person to their face.

This girl’s crush rejected her without even having to look at her.

one time in middle school i had finally gathered the courage to ask this guy to hang out with me during lunch, he was playing on his PSP as i walked up, i hadn’t even said anything and he goes “no.” didn’t even LOOK at me. lmaooooo

— Yuri ???? (@yuridia_mendoza) November 11, 2019

Leave it to a middle school boy to do something like this. This boy joins the long list of men who have chosen a video game over a girl. 

Of course, some people have had their harshest rejection experiences from their career paths:

It says a lot about me that my first thought reading the “what was your harshest rejection” bit fully expected the next para to be about an email from a lit journal #HandsUpIfYouveEverFelfPersonallyVictimisedByALitJournal #WritersLife #WritingCommunity https://t.co/Y0UyhFWKEU

— Isabella Luna???????? (@bellalunapoet) November 10, 2019

Dedicating your life to creative work is a surefire way to experience more rejection than the average person. But the beauty of rejection is, there’s always something better for you waiting on the other side. Nothing and no one should be in your life if it doesn’t want to be there. 

Ted Talks have grown in demand due to their refreshing, informative, and exciting topics and speakers. Whether we’re learning about scientific, cultural, political, and academic matters, it is the speaker that brings these topics to life. We especially like when we hear from extraordinary Latinas including Pia Mancini, an activist and technical project leader from Argentina, Isabel Allende and a Chilean writer who spoke about passion. Last week’s speaker touched on a topic that many Latinas could relate to.

America Ferrera gave a Ted Talk and discussed how representation in the media ultimately brings an “extraordinary richness of humanity.”

On April 19, Ferrera was among several speakers at the Session 12 of TED2019 held in Vancouver, Canada. The actress, activist, and director addressed the audience and spoke about who her identity as a Latina of Honduran descent seemed at first to be her obstacle, but she slowly realized it meant more than that.

“My identity is not an obstacle — it’s my superpower,” she said.

The “Superstore” actress said she had to break through the mold of portraying stereotypical roles.

Ferrera said she didn’t want to play the “Gangbanger’s Girlfriend” or “Pregnant Chola #2” but instead more complicated roles.

“I wanted to play people who existed in the center of their own lives, not cardboard cutouts that stood in the background of someone else’s,” she says, “Who we see thriving in the world teaches us how to see ourselves, how to think about our own value, how to dream about our futures.”

She added, “In spite of what I’d been told my whole life. I saw firsthand that my ‘unrealistic expectations’ to see myself authentically represented in the culture were other people’s expectations too.”

Ferrera said that Hollywood is more inclusive of minorities, but it’s not enough.

Even though her breakthrough role in “Real Women Have Curves” has launched more diverse characters in Hollywood, she says there’s still so much work that needs to be done.

“Change will come when each of us has the courage to question our own fundamental values and beliefs,” Ferrera said, “and see to it that our actions lead to our best intentions.”

We love the picture of Ferrera’s baby watching her speak during the Ted Talk. She captioned the photo by saying, “My baby boy watching me deliver my talk yesterday at #ted2019 – Thank you @ted for inviting me to share my truth and a message I believe in with my whole heart. #TheFutureIsWatching.”

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