Rejection sucks. It’s painful, discouraging, and can make you feel completely inadequate. But rejection is also a normal part of life, and for me it’s part of daily life.

As an actress, I deal with rejection constantly. Everyday my agents and I submit myself to dozens of projects casting in Arizona and Los Angeles, and everyday I don’t get called in for an audition.

Then, eventually, something sticks and voila! I’m being called into the casting director’s office to read for a part. But it doesn’t end there.

I’ve finally made it to the audition to now have to cross my fingers and hope I make it to the callback, and with larger productions the callbacks can go on for months.

It’s a grueling process to the finish line, and you can knock your auditions out of the park and still not get the job because you’re too short, too tall, or you remind the director of his ex-wife.

In a business that’s full of “No’s,” a lot of people ask me why I continue to grind away at the acting stone? Because it’s my passion and I can’t imagine my life going in any other direction.

And as for the rejection part, I’ve learned how to handle it like a pro, because that’s what I am.

When I first started acting rejection was brutal. I would sob whenever I didn’t get the job and beat myself up over not being “good enough.”

Finally, after my first year and intense training, I learned that in order to be in this business I had to develop a thick skin and deal with rejection.

When I realized the casting process wasn’t to be taken personally, I finally began booking roles and gaining more confidence. The rejection taught me how to suck it up, move on, and keep my head high.

Rejection taught me how to be confident and persistent. Rejection taught me to never take “No” as my final answer.

I finally started giving myself credit for even trying, which is more than what some people even do. This industry is not for the faint of heart, and the fact that I was even taking the risk and jumping in with both feet said a lot about my drive and passion to make a living in the industry.

I knew branching out to the LA market was going to be difficult and full of rejection. But this time I knew how to cope because I had learned how to process and grow from my experiences with being rejected.

Rejection teaches you how to fail and be okay with it, and in life we will all fail every now and again. It’s inevitable, but what really matters is how you deal with the failure and how you pick yourself up and move on.

Do you try again, or choose to forget about it?

My mentality has toughened up because I was forced to learn how to stay positive even when I was told “No” dozens of times. Because if you can’t learn how to tell yourself that it will be okay, then you’ll never feel safe enough to take another risk.

Dealing with rejection isn’t always easy, I still get sad when I don’t book a role that I was really attached to. But I’ve also learned that with rejection comes the inevitable victory, and when it finally comes it feels wonderful because you know you really earned it.