The Most Hopeful Rejection

In 2019, I applied to become a Mental Health First Aid instructor with the Mental Health Commission of Canada. I was excited about the opportunity. I had already been teaching Road to Mental Readiness for several years and believed this was a natural next step, so I spent days carefully completing the application before finally hitting “send.”

The next day, I received an email from Denise, the psychologist responsible for recruitment. I hadn’t been accepted. She thanked me for applying but explained that she didn’t believe I was the right fit for the role.

I’ll be honest—I was crushed.

For a couple of days, I hosted a private pity party and allowed myself to be disappointed. Eventually, though, I started asking myself a different question: What if this isn’t the end of the story?

So I wrote back. Respectfully, but honestly. I told Denise that while I appreciated her response, I believed she had made the wrong decision. I explained how passionate I was about mental health education and told her that, one way or another, in one form or another, I was going to find a way to become an instructor.

Less than an hour later, she replied with words I’ve never forgotten:

“Well done. I truly applaud those who advocate for themselves. Now go back and redo your answers because it’s obvious you were holding back.”

She was absolutely right.

The application required me to discuss personal experiences involving addiction, mental illness, and the impact they had on my family. I had answered the questions honestly, but I hadn’t answered them completely. Somewhere along the way, I had carefully edited out the vulnerability and, in doing so, had edited out much of myself.

So I started over. My original application had been two pages; the revised version became six.

The next email I received simply said:

“Congratulations, you’re accepted into the training.”

That experience taught me something powerful about hope. Hope isn’t believing you’ll succeed on the first attempt, or assuming that everything will work out exactly as you planned. It’s believing that one rejection doesn’t get the final say. It’s recognizing that there may still be another step to take, another route to explore, or another opportunity waiting if you’re willing to keep moving forward.

Sometimes the difference between failure and success is simply deciding that “no” doesn’t have to be the end of the conversation.

— Jason Alderson