One of the things everyone hears from some cousin, uncle, aunt, brother, sister, parent, or friend when they don’t get selected for something these days is some form of, “oh you didn’t get it because you are insert [black, white, latinx, male, female, young, old, etc].” This comment is about them not you.

Avoid this line of thinking. It may be true, or it may not be. You will probably never know. What I do know is this is an unhelpful and defeatist line of thinking. Instead prove the haters wrong.