Literature on rejection

One of the issues that has come to light though my focus group meeting has been dealing with the success and failure of your friends as well as yourself. 

My focus group felt strongly that colleges don't prepare you for the fact you are going to be up against your friends. 

In my own experience college prepared me for the multitude of fresh talent that was going to be churned out of every drama school in the country on graduation and were going to start auditioning at the same time as me. But I never looked at my class mates (including some people I consider to be my closest friends) and considered I would be competing with them. 

One member of my focus group suggested that when you're at college its like your part of a gang. He mentioned 'move it' and said that the rivalry between colleges can be quite fierce, but its only when you graduate that you realise you are on your own and that even your closest friends are your competition when it comes to auditions. 

I already have reviewed one piece of literature that really addresses this....

'WHENEVER a friend succeeds, something inside me dies." Thus wrote Gore Vidal, capturing perfectly the feeling of envy you experience when news that someone you know has had some success with a play, film or book they've written. This is usually followed by an email or letter informing you of yet another rejection of your script. Oh the agony!' (Eddie Naughton 2013)

...but felt I needed to find some more relevant literature. 

I struggled to find any relating literature to auditions, so stripped in back and searched for articles relating to being envious of your friends success (in any context) instead and landed on the article 'When your friends happy news fills you with envy instead of joy' by Sumintha Bhandarka. This article is designed to make you understand these emotions and find the root of your feelings. 

'Nail down the source of your envy to let the person who made you envious off the hook.'

This relates completely to the world of Musical Theatre as performers tend to be extremely passionate about what we do. We aren't really envious of our friends, we are just desperate to work, to land the role, to be in that show etc. 

As always would love some of your thoughts on this topic!

sumintha bhandarka (2014). when your friends happy news fills you with envy instead of joy . Available: http://tinybuddha.com/blog/when-your-friends-happy-news-fills-you-with-envy-instead-of-joy/.

Eddie naughton, E.D. 2013. Rejection is just a hill an artist has to climb: Critics can be harsh but we should never let them dull our passion to create and perform. 13TH JAN . Sunday Independant . [Online]. [11 December 2016]. Available from: http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.mdx.ac.uk/docview/1268866615/abstract/E8B292332F7945BDPQ/1?accountid=12441