A Simple Rejection Email Made Me Drop My Head onto the Desk and Sob

Dear Delyara, I received a short, automated notification on my screen at midnight regarding a small creative application I’ve been waiting on for weeks. It wasn't even a major project—just a tiny, insignificant entry into a local design listing—but the opening words, “We regret to inform you,” completely broke me. Something inside my chest just collapsed. I dropped my forehead onto the hard wood of the desk, wrapped my arms around my head, and just sobbed into the dark until my chest ached and my throat was raw. It wasn't about the application; it was about the fact that I am tired of being rejected by every single door I knock on. I am tired of fighting, tired of spending my nights in a concrete box, and tired of pretending that I am strong enough to carry this weight alone. I sat there for twenty minutes, listening to my own tears hit the paperwork, feeling like the universe was deliberately trying to crush the last bit of hope out of my heart.