Your rejection is just redirection!
The event that changed my life.
When I graduated in 2004 as a BS Computer Engineer, I got into a Research and Development company that develops printers.
I was fortunate enough that me and my team (3 of us) were sent to the United States for training. It was very fun. When we arrived there, I met a lot of my colleagues who were also sent for training. It was like the entire Marriot Residences being occupied by all of my colleagues. Not just 1, but at least 3 residences.
It was so fun traveling in the US. My elementary classmate, Marivic, migrated there. She and her friend drove for hours to Lexington, Kentucky to meet me and bought me a very big American Burger for dinner. She also bought me a souvenir t-shirt. Both of which were American sizes. American dream come true!
The next day, Czarina, who also migrated and was my partner for the musical show in elementary, called me via a landline we spoke for an hour, the longest conversation I had via phone call. At the back of my mind, I was computing how much she would be paying for the phone bill.
It was an exciting place, no wonder a lot of people want to go to the US.
After the training, we went back to Philippines and started working on the cool stuff that we learned in the US. Some of my colleagues stayed and continued working there.
After over a year, I learned that someone in our company applied to study for a Masters Degree in Computer Science in the US. I inquired and got very excited because after studying for 8.5 months, I will have the opportunity to be working at Microsoft or Bank of America.
I prepared all my documents, applied for the Masters, took the assessment/exam and passed. I received a lot of documents showing that I was accepted. I was signing a lot of documents and noticed it’s a 30-month program!
I was already imaging at the end of the program, that I will be saving a lot of money!
Everything was ready after weeks of processing, except the US Visa.
Since I stayed in Cebu, Philippines at that time, I had to fly to Metro Manila to apply for a US Visa. I used my savings for US visa processing, airfare, hotel stay, food and transportation.
The next day, I was very early at the US Embassy, very nervous and excited at the same time.
I was so confident that I could get the visa because I have been to the US, thinking, this is just a piece of cake.
Unfortunately, the officer rejected my visa application and I was shattered.
I made a long-distance call to the school explaining my situation and they assured me that everything will be alright and that I should apply again.
Majority of us have this so-called American Dream and mine just disappeared. I was devastated.
I went back to my hometown in Bohol, Philippines and talked to my parents. I was so down, not only because of the visa application rejection, but at that time, I spent around P50,000 of my own savings. Way back then in 2004, that’s a lot of money for a fresh grad. I felt like a failure and gambled my money for nothing.
After a few days, I received a package from the school that I should use as a supporting document for my visa application. At that point, my American Dream was no more.
I didn’t want to go through the process again and it was very very taxing.
My mom noticed that I was not myself and she suggested that I should go on vacation. I had no idea where to go.
When I got back to the office, Martin, my colleague, asked me, “Gil, did you process your miles when we went to the US?”. I said, “Yes, why?”
“Those miles can be converted for a free round-trip in Southeast Asia! All you need is 25,000 miles”, he answered. He added, “I’m going to Singapore, I’ll be staying with our ex-colleague Matt, do you want to join?”
And I remembered mom telling me to go on vacation. At an instant, I said yes, even though I didn’t know where Singapore was. At that time, we can only associate Singapore as a place that hanged the Filipina maid name Flor Contemplacion.
At the back of my mind, Singapore can be a scary place because they hang people, but I didn’t care.
We discussed when we should go, what to bring, but just a few days before the trip, for some reason, he backed out.
Travelling to a place I have never been to and a place that hanged Flor - it was scary. A lot of fears, but I was already determined.
I decided to get out of my comfort zone!
And explore a new place.
I didn’t have much money at that time, but at least, my airfare is free, my lodging is free and all I need is just to look for some cheap noodles and have it for the rest of my Singapore stay and some pocket money for transportation.
Even though Martin didn’t push through, I was very grateful to him for inviting me for that Singapore trip.
Also, I’m very grateful for Matt, for allowing me to stay in his room free of charge.
Also, I’m very grateful for that US Visa Officer for rejecting me, because I learned:
Rejection is just a redirection!
So if you are rejected or have experienced rejection, don’t worry, it’s not the end of the world!
God has better plans for you!
I was rejected when I applied my US Visa, but I was redirected to Singapore for just a vacation. Unexpectedly, I ended up working in a bank as a Unix C/C++ Software Engineer. More on that next time.
I hope this has been valuable to you, and I hope you get some nuggets of wisdom from this article.
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