The “I’m Perfect As I Am” Mindset Might Be Hampering Your Growth
The science behind why accepting your fault is good for your mental health and overall personal development.
“The editor is racist,” my friend told me through tears of anger. “They rejected my article because I’m from India.”
I looked at her in surprise. A few weeks ago, she’d submitted a piece about writing well to a popular literary magazine. On the previous day, she’d received a letter of rejection. This was devastating, but I thought we had moved on. I didn’t understand why she brought it up again, that too, in such a context.
“What do you mean?” I asked her.
“They published a piece with the exact same message as I’d written just because the author is from the US. See?”
She then proceeded to shove her phone in my face. I read through the article, and yes, the core idea was similar to my friend’s piece, but I could see the formatting and the way the author had presented the concepts were unique and interesting. Sure, this might be because the author was a native English speaker, but the changes weren’t so monumental that my friend couldn’t rework her piece and resubmit. I had published with this magazine before too, and I know the editors aren’t racist…
