rejection as the stepping stone to success

I am part of a mentoring group in which I am a mentor to a Berkeley student who is exploring his/her vocation and I have noticed that in my mentoring I am doing a lot of self-reflection, hoping that the lessons I've learned are a warning or a reminder for my mentee to choose or lose a certain career path or vocation. I hardly have all the answers and in a sense I feel more jaded by life, a little more realistic and a little more human. In one of our overall get-togethers one the of the mentors (a 90-year-old whom I adore because she has such power & spirit)said: "I don't think you ever really reach your goal in life but that does not mean you should stop reaching for the stars." I thought that was wonderfully balanced, real and at the same time optimistic, or rather hopeful and encouraging. I've had some rejection in my job lately-- not from my students but because of administrative hierarchy (i.e. the difference between lecturers and tenured staff) plus some politicking that I don't want to go into here because god knows who reads this damn blog, but all I can say is that where these kinds of rejections used to get me down on myself, I have learned to roll with the punches more and see rejections in a career or in writing as learning experiences-- the key is to distance oneself, objectify the experience (i.e. not take it personally) and learn. Rejection has taught me more than success and rejection becomes a whole lot more attractive if you see it as the stepping stone to success, rather than the reason for hanging yourself from the highest rafter in the house or diving off the Golden Gate. At the same time, rejection can have no educational value whatsoever when the person who does the rejecting has a different taste, personality or ethics-- rejection is subjective and can be unacceptable in that sense, but still I think we should try and be humble even if we disagree and feel we've been unfairly judged...and from there we can turn it into something positive for ourselves by trying again, trying harder and once again keep our eye on the stars....