For humans, a rejection can be perceived through their body. When there is a feeling to reject, there must be something that requires attention.
In one situation, it’s from the outside; the person you're rejecting has something that makes you feel there might be something wrong.
Under such a situation, if you won’t, but take it as a polite manner. Then, it will consume something you have, maybe energy, time, wealth, or even threaten life. Therefore, it’s a positive rejection.
However, not every rejection is positive. In another situation, it might be something wrong from oneself who rejected. It depends on the outcome and how you feel about it. Sometimes, a rejection leaves a feeling of regret; sometimes, a sense of pressure; sometimes, a feeling of relief; sometimes, nothing happens. Under such circumstances, the process of after-rejecting will consume the energy capacity if the decision to reject is unclear.
The outcome is based on one’s own feelings, rather than the feedback from the one who was rejected.
For some people, a rejection needs to be learnt; for some, it’s a natural action to protect self-autonomy for their clear aim.
When there is a giving of rejection, there is a receiving of rejection. When a person is rejected by someone, no matter for what reason, such a rejection breaks their expectation of having, which leads to a negative emotion, like upset, or even worse, impacts one’s self-identity.
It has to be clear that the action of rejection mostly depends on one’s own situation, and is not related to the other. Thus, the person who is being rejected should hold their value. If they can’t, they are attaching the outside thing to prove their value — such behavior is not a way to achieve autonomy. Therefore, there is no responsibility to manage or absorb others’ reactions.
The problem is not the others’ reaction to the rejection, but rather how a person implements the rejection.
When there is empathy for the experience of being rejected, it will be harder for a person to apply rejection. However, there is a common truth that such an unclear attitude causes more harm to the other. When such a rejection is implemented, the person is dealing with their own trauma for rejecting.
When there is no trauma-related issue, try to minimize the potential reaction to the lowest level possible. Therefore, a clear and honest rejection is vitally important for everyone. A boundary saves the honest; if such a boundary is broken, it might bring more pressure to the person. Under such circumstances, a rejection might involve a kind excuse.