The Email I Didn’t Want to Receive

Hey Sista.

I found out today via e-mail that I didn’t get the job.

The one I prayed over.
The one I prepared for.
The one I could already see myself working in.
The one that would have changed some things financially and emotionally.

And if I’m being honest? It hurt……A lot!

I cried. I questioned myself. I replayed the interview in my head. I wondered what I could have done differently.

Because that’s what many of us do.

As women, we’ve been conditioned to believe that if we work hard enough, prepare enough, pray enough, smile enough, and exceed expectations enough, the doors will automatically open.

But sometimes they don’t.

And when they don’t, it can feel very personal.

It can make us question our intelligence, our worth, and even our calling.

But can I tell you something?

A “no” is information. It is not an indictment of your value.

That job did not determine whether you are gifted.
That email did not diminish your brilliance.
That rejection did not revoke your purpose.

You are still the woman who showed up.
You are still qualified.
You are still capable.
You are still worthy.

See black women in particular know something about surviving disappointment.

Our mothers and grandmothers survived closed doors and still built businesses.

They survived being overlooked and still created opportunities.

They survived rejection and still raised families, built communities, and carried dreams on their backs.

Their resilience lives in us.

So for today, I’m allowing myself to grieve this disappointment.

I’m allowing myself to be human.

But I refuse to let rejection write my story.

Maybe I didn’t get this job because something better is coming.

Maybe there is another opportunity with my name on it.

Maybe God is protecting me from something I cannot yet see.

Maybe this season is preparing me for something bigger than employment—a purpose I haven’t even imagined yet.

I don’t know.

But I do know this:

I will not confuse rejection with failure.

I will rest.
I will regroup.
I will keep applying.
I will keep learning.
I will keep believing.

And I will remember that my worth has never been tied to an offer letter.

To every woman reading this who has received a rejection email, been passed over for a promotion, or watched someone else get the opportunity you desperately wanted:

Cry if you need to….

Take the day off to realign…..

Feel the disappointment, but…..

Then straighten your crown and keep moving.

Because one closed door cannot stop a woman who was born to build her own.

Sis, your story isn’t over.

This chapter just has an unexpected plot twist.