#14 On Being Moved 🧡

Everything is a practice.

February 2025

Tallinn, February 2025 © Christine Niemi

Excerpt from “When 99 people don't believe in you” by Emma Gannon:

I got a rejection email just before Christmas. 

It was a very nice and complimentary rejection. Sometimes that makes it even worse, doesn’t it? You’re being told how close you were to someone saying yes and potentially changing the course of your working life—but ultimately it’s a no. (All the very best with the project/book/idea! Someone out there is going to be SO lucky to have you! Just not us, though. Kind regards!)

It doesn’t matter where you are in your career, it always stings. A psychologist once told me that when we’re rejected, we aren’t just experiencing that one rejection, we’re re-experiencing all the previous rejections we’ve had before.

I’ve been around long enough now to know, genuinely, that what is meant for you will find you, but—let’s be real—rejection doesn’t feel great.

Rejection never feels great. It simply does not. The day after I received a rejection for a job I was in the final stages for, I received the above mentioned publication from ‘The Hyphen’.¹

What. A. Timing.

It resonated. Deeply.

I had so much hope for that position, for working at that company. Naturally, I felt upset. Sad. I replayed the process, wondering where I went wrong, what misstep led me there. But then, almost without realising it, my perspective started to shift. They liked me. I liked them. That means something! That is a good thing! A great thing, actually. Slowly, I felt myself detaching from the ‘sting of rejection’ and settle into something steadier: I had done enough. And, I was not afraid to ask for additional feedback, even if it might sting a liiiiittle more.

The job market is tough right now². Making sense of that reality is a challenge. Most of the time, I do not even make it past the first step. Application sent, rejection received. So when I do get further, when I have conversations, make connections, and get close, I remind myself: this is progress. And progress is how we move through.

Everything is a practice, and this is the time to practice, and this is what practice is for: to meet the world and ourselves with a full heart, to find and add beauty alongside the horror, to stay with What Is while also staying close to the self we want to be in the world we find ourselves facing. - Lisa Olivera

A year ago, my therapist pointed out that I was entering a time in my life marked by increasing uncertainty. She referred to pillars. She stated the facts - things that had already happened, things she knew well by then. When another pillar of my life began to crumble, she listed those facts again: Relationship, home, job. I knew what had happened, of course, but hearing it framed that way made it sink in differently. It is overwhelming when one pillar starts to wobble - two, then three? That is a storm.

I am actively rebuilding my pillars. They might be still a bit unsteady, but their foundations are taking shape. Some more than the others. Day by day, at my own pace, with caring people in my life (without them, navigating life would be far more difficult!). It has gotten less stormy.

I am learning to notice the shifts - practicing life.

Part of the practice, for me, is holding space for what is called both/and thinking.

I am learning to notice the moments of being stuck - stuck in the effort to understand that it is okay to feel both sadness and hopefulness at once.

Both/and creates breathing room so you can work through an experience without judgment.³

Contradictory emotions are confusing. But that does not mean we are getting it wrong (though acknowledging this… it is still, at times, a bit of a struggle). If anything, it means we are feeling life fully, honoring its complexity. So I sit here, acknowledging exactly that. Being human… I suppose ♥

Being human is contradiction after contradiction, and yet, it all belongs. 
The ache of what is missing does not erase the joy of what is here.
Uncertainty does not cancel out possibility.
I carry love and loss.
I carry fear and excitement.
I carry restlessness and contentment. 

The practice is making space for it.

To feel the feels.

'On Being Moved’ is a monthly series of exploring and expressing observations and thoughts - through both written and visual formats. Not sure yet of its direction, however each step forward is a step 'on being moved'. Welcome ♥

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#13 On Being Moved 🧡

#12 On Being Moved 🧡

1. Emma is a Sunday Times bestselling author of eight books, known for her thoughtful insights on work, well-being, and creativity, as well as the writer of "The Hyphen” here on Substack. Looking forward to her soon to be published second novel "Table for One” :).

2. As of January 2025, Finland's unemployment rate stands at 9.5%, indicating a significant level of joblessness (Yle News (2025). Finland's recession slipping towards depression, ministry expert says. Yle News. Available at: https://yle.fi/a/74-20134253 (Accessed: 26 February 2025).

3. Epstein, S. (2021) ‘What is both/and thinking?’, Psychology Today. Available at: https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/between-the-generations/202102/what-is-bothand-thinking (Accessed: 21 February 2025).