The idiomatic expression of something being a hard pill to swallow is often applied towards the things in life that are hard to accept.
When your confidence is shattered because you're told you're not good enough, or when someone with which you thought you had a good thing going turns out not liking you at all are tough examples.
Early in my career as an actor, I learned very quickly that rejection is more common than actually booking work.
Being passed over because someone else is a better fit for the role is completely understandable, but the harsh reality certainly is not reassuring.
Curious to hear what others would consider difficult to accept in life, Redditor /Snoo-61655 asked:
"What's the hardest pill to swallow?"
Not Being Liked
"Someone can get to know you well, and still not like you."
"This is a bitter pill to swallow."
"Can't win them all. It took a long time for me to understand that it's okay if someone doesn't like me. Remain courteous and continue on with my life surrounded by people who do."
Depression Is Not A Free Pass
"Being depressed is not an excuse to act like a d*ckhead"
"Can confirm. There was a girl in my class a few years ago who was a total a**hole and whenever you called her out on it, she's say 'oh I have depression and anxiety' and fake cries until you give her sympathy (which I never did, making her even angrier)."
Unrequited Love
"She doesn't love you."
"Going through this right now, not sure how I feel! Huge anxiety spike though."
Overlooked For A Promotion
"It's a hard pill to swallow when:"
"A lazy, incompetent coworker gets promoted at work and you're left behind, even though your work is exemplary and you're doing your best to move ahead."
Jobs Are A Two-Way Street
"A harder pill to swallow."
"Bored and underutilized can be mistaken for lazy and incompetent."
"Jobs are two way streets and if it's not working out for you, invest in yourself and work towards finding a new job."
Not Good Enough
"My husband was stuck in one job for years because he refused to kiss a** (it's not his style) and it eventually started to make him really f'king depressed and downright miserable. He also went through around a year or so of interviewing for similar positions where he did GREAT in the interview portion but it always ended up in 'We're going in another direction.' or 'You want too much money.' or 'Sorry we love you but HIRING FREEZE! We can do nothing.'"
"It really f'ked with his head and when a friend offered him a way out, he jumped at it. And it was meh. Not great but not terrible. The SAME friend ended up getting him a different job at another company two years later after he (the friend) had gotten fired from the first job for having cancer and using up too much leave time. And the second time his friend helped him get a job has been a goddamned GODSEND because this company is very 'family forward' and is the ONLY retail store I've ever seen that treats its employees like actual goddamned human beings instead of replaceable robots."
Rough Childhood
"Some people have rough childhoods and a really lousy backstory, but a lot of the misery in your life RIGHT NOW is the result of your own poor decisions and you're the one who has to do something to fix it."
– talidrow
Being The Villain
"That to someone in the world you are the Villain in their story. You can't change their mind about it. You can't try to explain their experience to them because you aren't in their shoes. You could have done something totally normal to you that was horror to them and you can't change their mind nor should you try. Its just something you have to live with."
Autism Diagnosis
"My child's autism diagnosis and the months prior when we noticed that he was 'off.'"
"It's okay now but back when you have these dreams of a normal family, it's like living in a nightmare that you never wake up from. Luckily, he's a wonderful kid, autism or not."
