D. Recognize That a Certain Amount of Emotional Distress Is Unavoidable

Even if you are generally positive about yourself and confident in your abilities and the worth of your work, being turned down for tenure is probably going to challenge your sense of well being, at least temporarily. In the abstract, individuals often acknowledge that this type of situation is likely to create problems for anyone regardless of ego strength. However, when faced personally with the negative decision, you may feel that you should be able to cope and keep your distress under control. One beneficial coping strategy is to acknowledge the appropriateness of feeling distressed and even devastated by the situation. The turmoil created by being denied tenure or promotion taxes one's best efforts at adaptation. Healthy functioning in such a situation does not mean that you are going to be able to maintain a lid on your emotions or keep the emotional distress from interfering with functioning effectively at work or in other areas of life. Even with a strong support system, individuals at minimum often feel that their scholarly research and writing comes to a standstill either because of the time and energy required to fight a negative decision or the effort needed to seek other employment and move.