Rejection is inevitable and it’s normal.

I don’t know about you but I know rejection is a normal thing. Many times, we find ourselves in awful situations that make us lose hope. We face too many rejections that make us question our existence. You are not alone. The truth is – rejection is normal. It doesn’t matter who you are or how talented. Rejection knows no boundary.

Rejection is the state of being turned down from an expected project. It is also the state of being disappointed by lovers, job interview, sports tryout, and family.

However, note that – ”Anytime you are rejected, you are redirected.”

Rejection should make you stronger. Successful people in life were rejected but they never gave up. Instead, they find direction in rejection.  When you take a risk in life, there is a possibility of being rejected or accepted.

Ashley Laderer said – As much as we’d like for everything to always go our way, that’s not the way the universe works. While rejection is pretty much inevitable in some capacity, it still hurts. It’s painful to get shut down for something you want, whether it’s a date with a crush or a job at your dream company. We all want to be loved, cherished, and accepted — be it by a romantic partner, friend, group, or boss.

Rejection can cause an emotional wreck, ranging from confusion to sadness or rage. Oftentimes, people don’t understand exactly why they’ve been rejected, which can lead to a downward spiral of negative introspection and an overall sense of not feeling “good enough.”

As I said before, rejection simply means unwanted by someone. In 2012, while I was planning to go back for my HND program, I tried all the possible means to save up some money but the money I saved wasn’t enough. I gave up.

But one day, I stumbled upon my cousin on Facebook and we started chatting. He asked about my education and life in general. I explained everything to him. He asked for my contact and offered to help me.

After two weeks, I didn’t hear from him. So I decided to reach out to him on Facebook but I was shocked to discover that he had blocked me. I was so down. Why? Because I didn’t expect disappointment from him.

But I was wrong. People will surely disappoint you. As a matter of fact, your parents can disappoint you. But it’s not the end of the world. It is normal. Do you wonder what’s normal about being rejected?

Two reasons why rejection is normal:

1. It makes you understand life the more: When you are rejected, you feel like the world should come to an end. But the truth is, life is laced with a rebuff, refusal and many more. Instead of whining and crying, learn from it. It’ll add to you experience. The lessons learned are always priceless. Rejection is a precept.
2. It makes you refocus and stay determined: It’s true that once bitten twice shy. Rejection can be a stepping stone if channeled the right way. Because you will realize that those difficult experiences were a blessing in disguise. Specifically, it highlights habits, actions, or thoughts that you can improve on. It helps you shift your focus from how you messed up to how you can become better. Of course, refocusing doesn’t mean changing yourself according to someone else’s standards. Sometimes, rejection is not a true reflection of your abilities, talents, or self-worth. And it certainly doesn’t mean that you’re inadequate.

Now that you see how you can turn rejection into a new direction, go and rewrite your story.

No matter what happened to you today, I want you to understand that rejection prepares you for a better tomorrow. Rejection is a test of your endurance.

Remember- when one door closes, another opens. Rejection simply means redirection.

Women are gold.

Yes, I mean women are a special being given to the world as a gift from God. The best gift I ever had was my mother and she is a woman. In fact, I can say the next to God is women. If you doubt this, try to go to bed with an indigestible stomach, then you will understand how it feels to carry a pregnancy in the womb for 9 months. Remember, they also breastfeed for one year and a half. Indeed, women are everything.

I do wonder if we can survive without them in our society. Our president once said they belong to the kitchen but I can boldly say it is not true. The fact that President Buhari said it doesn’t make it true.

Although women can be so frustrating at times, that doesn’t mean they should be treated poorly.

How will you tell me you love your wife but slap her at every slightest bit of disagreement?

That’s so absurd. Some men are so comfortable with beating their wife at any form of misunderstanding.

Often times, I do wish it is possible for God to change man to woman for just a year so that men can understand the stress women are going through.

They said behind a successful man there is a woman. This saying is true. Let’s take the former president of Nigeria as a case study.

Goodluck Jonathan is a learned person and a successful man to crown it all. But I found something outrageous about him, he doesn’t care about what people think of his wife, Patience Jonathan. Even when the masses were condemning her spoken English, he keeps putting her in front of everything he wants to do. This is what true men do.

Of course, every marriage or relationship has its own problems but should not result in physical abuse. Often times, I have seen men beat their wives. In fact, I was in my room last week when I heard a man beating his wife. I couldn’t condone it. I had to go to their room to make peace. He said the wife knew he was going to have his bathe at 6 o’clock in the morning but she failed to fill the drum with water.

But the poor woman brought out the drugs she had been using for the past three days as she wasn’t feeling too well. I turned to the man and asked if he knew anything about it. He said that doesn’t stop her from filling the drums with water.

That was an inhumane response. Considering the woman has to fetch the water with a bucket from downstairs and take it up to the three-storey building on her head. This a task the man couldn’t even do by himself. He had barely carried a bucket when he started panting and feeling remorseful. He couldn’t look into my eyes.

That’s when I started counselling him.

Nigerian men, enough is enough. Stop the women slavery mentality. No house chore is meant for women alone. That’s where the word – partner comes in. Assisting your wife doesn’t reduce your value as a man. It is treating your wife poorly that reduces your value as a man. Our African norms and customs are killing us.

Women are being reduced to nothing. They are meant to take up all the chores. Common!

Croatian president is a woman.

To every woman out there, don’t let any man treat you poorly. Place a value on yourself. How you present yourself determines how you will be treated. You are what you think you are.

Note: Until you place value on yourself, you don’t know who you are.

The visa reciprocity increment announced 2 days ago by the US Mission Nigeria, for Nigerians, has prompted a policy review by the Ministry of Interior. According to the statement from the office of the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, captioned: FG Decreases Visa Charges Payable by US Citizens in Line with Reciprocity Policy.

The Ministry of Interior had engaged the US Embassy as soon as the announcement was made, and a committee was set up to conduct due diligence in line with the Ministry’s extant policy on reciprocity of Visa fees.

The outcome of the “due diligence” conducted by the committee was approval of decrease of Visa charges payable by US citizens.

And the Comptroller General of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), Muhammad Babandede, has been directed to implement the decision of the committee effective Thursday, August 29, 2019. That means that US citizens can now pay $160 as Nigerian visa fee.

The decision of the Ministry of Interior to review downward, the fees of Americans citizens applying for Nigeria visas has been applauded. However, it beckons on the US Government to reverse their decision. The reciprocity policy was introduced by the US Government in 2018, and Nigeria was duly informed.

But the Ministry of Interior was too slow to act on the US Government’s letter until their decision to reciprocate was announced on Wednesday.

However, there are other concerns: the duration of Nigerian tourist visa for Americans is 2 years, while Ghana and South Africa issue the Americans 5 – 10 years tourist visas; and get the same in return. It is a situation that has reciprocated 2 years tourist visas for Nigerians also.

Concerned Nigerians are asking the Ministry of Interior to do a thorough review of the visa process as it affects Nigeria and other countries, especially developed countries.

The US government is yet to respond to the decision of the Ministry of Interior. However, there is hope that it will be reciprocated as well.