Rejection, no matter how old you or jaded you claim to be, it still stings.

The irony of that is the people who are so afraid of rejection are the ones who hurt others the most.  It's like they are so afraid of letting people in that they'd push everyone away so that they never have to tackle anything that is beyond their comfort zones. No matter how gentle or soothing the words, no remains no.

Take it from me, if you are unsure about anything ask. If you do not want anything to happen, never initiate or encourage. And if you get questioned, answer as honestly as possible - face to face. Sure, there is no way of rejecting anyone gently or even easily but you can still respect the person by addressing them directly. The worst outcome? A few tears or the loss of one friendship. The best? They will still respect you as a person and will want to continue being friends.

For me, the worst is being rejected over email. How is anything supposed to happen with anyone if you can't even talk to each other? To a large extent, emails, and even the chat mechanisms like MSN, Yahoo or Skype facilitate personal communication but they are also very impersonal channels. After all, no one sees you giving the finger to the person you are chatting with unless both your cams are switched on, right?

So how do you cope with rejection? Despite the tears, the busted ego and self esteem, you have to carry on. But choose your routes wisely. One-night stands are a temporary reprieve and in the long run, show that you are unable to handle anything serious. Stringing along and dumping other candidates shows that you are just as stupid as the person who rejected you.

For me, the best route was to go out and reclaim my life. So I went out to do what I love best. Spice up my night with some salsa :o) To me, dancing with a partner who is equally willing to cut loose on the social floor adds just a little bit of magic. There is great chemistry, self-consciousness is a non-issue and you simply focus on the person in front of you. Bonus points as he was cute too *wiggles eyebrows*

It felt wonderful to have someone just appreciate me. The cool part is that while there was a great deal of flirting going-on, we left it at that. There was no need to take things further. It was simply fun to enjoy each other just for a while.

And who knows? We may meet again in the near future.