The first rejection is the worst one. After that, you realize you’re still standing and it gets lighter.

The first no is heavy partly because it is unfamiliar. You have no evidence yet of what happens afterward, so your head fills that gap with something catastrophic. Then the week passes, you are still here, your friends still like you, and the event turns out smaller than the dread that came before it. None of that knowledge is available until you are on the other side.

Be gentle with yourself for a day or two, then log it and go again. The second one stings less, not because you hardened but because you know the real cost.