Getting rejected by a co-worker can be a major blow to your feelings.
The constant proximity to him will cause you anxiety, or uneasiness at your place of work. This is the reason, major companies have a strict no-dating policy. If you must date, there are rules guiding this kind of relationship.
Dating at work has the potential to interrupt your daily life, and also your work performance. When this happens, you may feel depressed, and it’s only natural to feel this way.
Moments like this will always pass and I have written ten things you can do to help with this.
What you should not do is blame yourself or allow this to affect your work performance. You should understand that everyone has a right to accept or reject a proposal.
There are many factors responsible for this. What you can do is find positive ways to move forward and put everything behind you in no time.
You can talk about this with a friend or trusted colleague. This can ease any stress or reservations you have about what happened.
When a co-worker rejects you because you work together, here are ten things you can do.
Ten Things You Can Do When You Get Rejected At Work
1. Take Time To Process Your Feelings
No matter how you feel when you get rejected by a coworker at work, it is natural.
You may not feel ashamed or depressed about these feelings.
Learn to identify what you feel about the rejection and give yourself time to process it.
You will feel a range of feelings from anger, hate, shame, fear, anxiety, worry, racing thoughts, etc. my point is the list is endless and you cannot live your life forward without identifying what you feel.
Taking the time to process this, is the best shot at healing properly.
By giving yourself time to process your feelings, you will feel better about the whole situation.
It helps because you have more control over what you know and understand, than what you do not.
These feelings you have, are better at getting solved when you acknowledge them.
I know how a workplace environment can feel like a box with a tiny hole for a door. You are forced to run into him, and this can be upsetting or dreaded.
It’s beneficial to allow time to do its work as you work through your process.
2. Keep Your Work Place Ethics
Getting rejected at work can sting. You must have been sure that you weren’t going to be rejected. That is why you took the bold step and things have gone sour.
It is easy to think about the hurt while letting your emotions affect your work, or how you interact with him. It can feel good at the moment but it’s you sabotaging yourself.
Keep it professional with him after the rejection. Don’t lose sight of the fact that it’s the job first before anything.
And once you are at work, all protocols must be observed. Companies have strong rules about worker relations because it can affect the workflow.
As you keep your work ethic, you realize you do not have to rely on your emotions to act. You will find it easier to cope with the rejection if you interact with him on a professional level.
Remember, it crossing some boundaries that led you here. By putting those boundaries back up, you save yourself, and your job.
I know it’s hard to maintain decorum in such a situation. This is true especially if he is not making it easy for you.
You have to work hard to keep the same level of professionalism required for the job. Keep in mind it is only going to feel that way in a little time, and doing this will help get a faster result.
3. Focus On Your Work
After a rejection at work, things seem to take different turns and you don’t know what to expect.
It can be a little confusing too because you are tempted to read into every detail or second guess your every action.
What is necessary, is putting more focus on your work. By doing this, you will have no time to do something else, like worry or think about his rejection.
Your relationship with him is a secondary affair. Your job is what you should focus on and pour all your energy into.
Set your goals and put them more in your to-do lists. Instead of falling into worrying, redirect all your energy into your career.
Getting your focus back up can boost your declining productivity levels.
Focusing on your work after a rejection allows things to go back to normal between you.
In a short while, the incident is buried in the past, becoming a distant memory.
If you think about the rejection, your performance at work will drop. This can lead to you losing your job or promotional opportunities.
I can relate to the desire to just cower in thoughts about the rejection.
But when you consider how it has nothing to do with your job. You will see a great improvement in your area of work.
Always remember your job is the reason you walked into the building.
4. Always Have A Positive Attitude
Your life will not pause or change direction because a worker rejected you.
Neither will adopting a negative or bleak attitude suit any of your agenda and life goals.
Refrain from spreading information to other workers or listening to any sort of rumors.
By having a positive attitude, you will remain friendly and professional with him.
It takes effort to intentionally remain positive in such circumstances, but this pays off. This tells him you are mature and he will also respect you for handling yourself in this manner.
Always have a positive attitude. It helps return things to normal putting the rejection behind you.
It is important not to allow rejection to change your view or approach to life.
What follows is a hole of depression that is hard to crawl out from. So, after a rejection, always keep a positive attitude.
When you identify your emotions, it becomes easy to have a positive feelings about them. You will see yourself bouncing back with vigor.
5. Talk To Someone You Trust
Your emotional state after a rejection from a co-worker can be a bit on the rocks.
It is possible for you to feel you don’t understand what to do. This happens because you have been disappointed.
It is good because you can always learn and grow from moments like this. It is okay to seek support from trusted persons outside of work.
They will help you get through your emotions, especially if you struggle to cope with the rejection.
Having a conversation on this topic may not be easy, but it will provide amazing results.Talk to a trusted person like a therapist, family, or friend.
It is good to let other people in when you are struggling with feelings of rejection. Your mental health is important, and seeking support does good during moments like this.
There is no exact date on how long you are going to feel the way you feel about his rejection.
So, when you are taking this with someone, find someone with the patience to allow you to heal.
6. Pursue Other Interests
I do not doubt that you had the best intention for your co-worker when you asked him out. Now that you have been rejected by him, what do you do?
If you haven’t been down this road before, things can feel a little shaky beneath your feet. But with the right support system and habits, you walk on solid ground.
After a rejection, it’s easy to get stuck in a spot. You can get out of this by being open to other opportunities.
Keep your romantic scorecard open to other people outside of work. If you decide to look for other people to date, you will forget about the rejection quickly.
Pursuing other interests, people, hobbies, and relationships is a door that leads to many golden opportunities and moments.
You see that there is a bigger world out there than the time spent with him in the office. Things will take shape for you as the rejection becomes a distant memory.
7. Ask For A Transfer
The rejection from your colleague may take a toll on your mental health and ability to concentrate at work.
When this happens, you feel anxious running into him and dread every moment you have to walk into the office. If this continues for a long time, you will see a decline in your productivity levels.
Take a break if it’s difficult for you to be around them. If you need some time off, request this through your HR.
Taking time off can help you deal with these feelings of rejection. You can take things further by getting assigned to a different task or work arrangement in the office.
This way you are not forced to interact with him. Ask your company HR officer or your supervisor for a transfer to another department. This helps you significantly after you have been rejected at work.
8. Talk To Him
When you get rejected by a co-worker because you work together, this doesn’t mean they automatically become your enemy.
I get how it may look to have a conversation after they have rejected you, but this should be the case.
Avoid dwelling on the rejection and talk to them as you would anyone in the office. By keeping a friendly face and character, things between you two won’t be awkward.
This helps coexist much better with things returning to normalcy. When you talk to him, he will realize that the rejection doesn’t mean much to you.
He will also learn to keep a professional relationship with you, which is best in such circumstances.
9. Consider Switching Jobs
Your co-worker has just rejected you because you work together. He must have done this because he doesn’t want to break company rules.
This Is a good thing because breaking the rules can have both of you fired for misconduct. What you can do is consider switching jobs.
If you have invested in the relationship and feel you want to explore more or give you guys a chance. You should change jobs because this will allow you to date him freely without consequences.
10. Put Yourself First
The moment after getting rejected at work is critical for you. What you do, say and how you act becomes important.
It’s common to get carried away by all the noise. With so many things to do it is easy to lose sight of yourself. What you should do is put yourself first by taking self-care seriously.
Do things that will be safe for your mental health. Go out with other people, play games, take new classes, exercise, and do more things that will only make you happy.
When you do this, you won’t feel the weight of the rejection. Talk to your mentors about what has happened and how you feel. They may offer insights that will be helpful to you.
Conclusion
While getting rejected by someone because you work together can seem like a big deal.
Coming to terms with the rejection helps you come out better on the other side. With our well-curated list of things you can do, you never run out of ideas.
You should want to be better for this thing to work, so believing in the process of what you are doing is the first step.
Second, trust the process. Don’t go seeking immediate results because you won’t see them.
When you are invested deeply in doing these things, you become better, whole, and happier every day. Rejection doesn’t rule your life and it shouldn’t.
Keep your mental space free of negative thoughts and share how you feel with trusted friends.