How To Handle Rejection

Spring 2026

What to do when you get turned down.

By Mary Kay Holmes

REJECTION DOESN’T HAVE TO BE A FIVE-ALARM FIRE. It’s just feedback. How you handle it tells women everything we need to know about your nervous system, emotional range, and whether being close to you would feel deliciously safe or like a hostage situation. A man’s ability to stay open, communicative, confident, and kind (even when disappointed) is far sexier than pretending he neve...