I’ve been going to the same church for about six years now. I have loved almost every part of it, from the music, to the people and the sermons. However, like with most churches, part of the program has kids who graduate from elementary school move into the main church, where all the bigger kids and adults stay. This transition was a huge stepping stone for me.

Every morning our pastor asks us to bring an offering to the front of the church into baskets, and to be courteous, most adults shake hands with others as they are walking up and down through the aisles. My parents would always send me down to take our family’s offering and this easily made me terrified.

For the first few months, I’d quickly rush to the front, drop off my offering like a hotcake, and zip back to our pew without making any eye contact with anyone. Now don’t get me wrong, the people at my church are probably the nicest people I’ve ever met, but me being my timid, scrawny, 12-year-old self, they all seemed like towering intimidating giants. As the weeks went by, I soon realized that what I was afraid of wasn’t the people, germs, sweaty palms or anything of that sort, but that if I did put out my hand for a shake people wouldn’t respond.

Little by little, I experimented to see if it was actually as difficult as I had made it out to be in my head. I started small, cautiously waving my hand out at people that I walked by. To my surprise, most, if not all of them responded and while there were plenty of times I’d have to move on and skip people who were obviously occupied, those moments were greatly outnumbered to the amount of smiles and, “Good morning!’s” I received.

Regardless of how painful being rejected seemed to be, once I got past the fear of the awkwardness and discomfort that being rejected can have, I was able to enjoy the company of the people in my church and this part of services a lot more. This idea can be applied to anything, from rejection by people, organizations or even college admissions boards. The fear being rejected should never stop someone from doing what they want and being turned down does not mean it’s the end of the world.