Rejection tells you about one door. Only you decide what it says about the house.

A no is information about one decision, made by a few people with their own constraints and a stack of other options in front of them. It is genuinely narrow. What makes it hurt is the second step, where the mind turns a single door into a statement about everything you are. That step is not in the letter, and because you added it, you get to question it.

Let yourself feel the sting, since that part is honest. Then write down what the rejection actually said and notice how much smaller it is than what you heard.