"How we deal with tragedy defines who we are. I used to be terrible at it. Beyond terrible. You are not going to let this deflate you. You are going to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and we will figure out what the next step is."

— Chris to Andy, Parks & Rec Season 5

I'm a perfectionist. It's no secret. I'm obsessive compulsive about things because I feel like they have to be perfect. So, as a self proclaimed perfectionist, you can only imagine the tragedy that is rejection. At 17 years of age, I was handed the difficult decision of deciding where to go to college. I was about 100% against staying in state and had some wonderful offers from out of state, but I still applied to good ol’ University of Louisiana at Lafayette and was accepted under conditional acceptance.

I’m a perfectionist. I currently have a 4.0 GPA. I scored a 31 on my ACT, but here's the catch, I failed almost every math class in high school. I failed so badly that teachers would feel exasperated and ask me why I wasn't trying. I don't get math. I understand everything else though. That didn't matter though, you can't dispute a conditional acceptance. Yes, it's still an acceptance, but not under my perfectionist standards.

I felt defeated. The last four years had been all in preparation for a four year college, and at that point, I didn't feel like trying for a conditional acceptance. So, I took some time off.

The letter forced me to take a year off because in reality, I wasn't sure I even wanted to continue to college. I liked my job at the time, and I was happy. I wasn't prepared to go through more general courses at the time. I was young and immature, and I know for sure that I would have failed out my first semester.

That rejection letter changed my life in ways that I'm still grateful for. Yeah, I'm older than almost everyone in my classes, but I feel more confident at 22 than I ever was at 18. I took an entirely different route to get my education -- one that I didn't even see when I was 17 and filling out applications. I've been able to actually enjoy learning instead of just doing it because I feel like I had to.

Rejection could have set me back permanently, but I didn't let it. I chose to get back on the road I'm on now, and I'm grateful. Without that year off, I wouldn't have my Associate degree. I wouldn't have the jobs that I have now. I wouldn't have met the people that I got to meet or take the classes that I'm taking. Rejection can change a lot if you let it, but it's not always negative. It all depends on the route you decide to take after.