We all know that getting dumped isn’t exactly the most pleasant experience that you can go through. But what should you do when the man you’re seeing calls it quits? (Well… after crying to your bestie and trying to numb the emotional pain with six tubs of Ben and Jerry’s that is…)
According to some new research, instead of wallowing in your heart break you should do something creative like paint, sing or pen the next Fifty Shades of Grey. Why? Well you could end up making millions from your art. Score!
According to researchers from the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, if you are an independent-minded person, a bit of rejection could majorly boost your levels of creativity and improve your imaginative thinking.
“For people who already feel separate from the crowd, social rejection can be a form of validation,” said Sharon Kim, one of the lead researchers.
“Rejection confirms for independent people what they already feel about themselves, that they’re not like others. For such people, that distinction is a positive one leading them to greater creativity,” Ms Kim added.
Channelling your pain into something creative could pay off majorly
In three separate studies, researchers recruited college students and used a standard test which aimed to measure their “need for uniqueness.” Some participants were made to feel rejected after researchers told them they were not going to be part of the main group. These “rejected” volunteers were then asked to complete some tasks. The rest of the volunteers were told that they could join the group after they completed the same tasks.
The tasks were used to measure creativity and featured word games and drawings. Believe it or not, but the researchers found that the participants who had initially been rejected actually performed way better (and were far more creative) than their accepted counterparts.
“For people with an independent self-concept, rejection, relative to inclusion, appears to promote feelings of being different from others, allowing them to think more creatively,” the researchers wrote in a paper for the Journal of Experimental Psychology.
So if you’re going through some intense heart break (or another form of soul-crippling rejection) make like Adele and compose a Grammy-award-winning album. Hey, you never know – it could take off…
