Our eldest son wanted his bedtime snack to be a “Pirate Beard” tonight.

Uh…. initial thought = gross. Secondary thought = beards are cool, so why not eat one?

So, after a bit of thought, I put on my daddy-creative hat and rallied some random ingredients from the cupboard.

Here is what I came up with:

Unimpressive. I know.

J-Man was unimpressed too. And, if I’m honest, my feelings were a bit hurt.

SO RIDICULOUS.

With a bit of a sigh, I walked out of the room, semi-rejected by a 4 year old who didn’t like the snack I made him.

So… I took a moment to gather my kinda hurt feelings and reenter with him.

I asked him “What don’t you like about the Pirate Beard?”

He didn’t have (what I thought was) a good answer.

“Try the nose! It’s a honey/sesame almond from Trader Joe’s for crying out loud. It’s REALLY good.”

J-Man tries the nose. Big Smile.

“Try the mouth – it’s Corn Chex, and you LOVE Corn Chex. And the beard is peanut butter for goodness sakes!”

“Wait ’till you try the eyes. Raisins. Nummy Central.”

He got about halfway through the Pirate Beard Snack with lots of small bites and smiles before he had had enough.

He was surprised that my crazy snack actually tasted pretty decent. He was happy (mostly) with the experience.

If we pause for 28 seconds and are honest with ourselves, when people around us reject our creativity, it hurts.

“I worked really hard = you should be on board with it. You should like it. You should like me.”

A customer rejects our project? What if a donor rejects our ask? A family member or friend rejects us?

How will we react?

No big deal?

Leave, pout, wallow in disdain?

Or gather our thoughts, take a deep breath & continue in relationship? Will we offer the thing that costs us the most? Will we jump back in and offer ourselves?

What if we came back with a question or two: How would you change our product or service? What is it about our vision that doesn’t resonate with you? What is your perfect Pirate Beard?

What if we reentered with a simple baby step: Try the honey sesame almond. I think you’ll really like it.

We all need to be walked through stories and experiences. One step at a time.

Will we be a creative guide that values learning, and listening before lead? Will we continue to create and show up again after we have been rejected?

May each of us continue to create pirate beards, to deal with rejection in a healthy way and continue to take baby steps to listen, ask good questions & show up.

Kevin

PS – once J-Man had had enough, his vulture little brother finished all of it. If someone doesn’t like your product, vision or hope the first time around, there might be someone else who might.

Don’t loose hope! Try again! The world is full of little brothers who are ready to gobble up what you have to offer!