The Feelings of Being Replaced

Have you ever had a moment where something you did just wasn't good enough? Everyone tells you how wonderful it is, you build up your confidence and take it to the one person who's opinion really matters only to find out that your best just wasn't perfect. You try. You work hard. You improve and learn then take what you learned and make it better, but when the time comes there is always someone who did it better. Sometimes that someone is a person who never had experience in your specific area but is the boss' "golden boy" and your out of the job. Everything you did no longer seems worthwhile. You watch as your hopes and dreams erode away and everything you worked so hard for dissapears. You can no longer see it in your future. You start to face the fact that it wasn't meant to be. Someone else was there to raise the bar higher and you just couldn't make it. You tried your best and you ended up replaced. What's worse than facing this yourself is having the "big man" tell you herself. Maybe it wasn't to you directly, but when your with a group of 3 other girls and she comes and says "I don't know how to say this without it being a little offensive but please try not to take it that way. I don't mean it like that at all. I just think that some of you are good at what you do, but not good enough to be an editor and teach people how to become master's in that area," you can't help but hurt a little. I thought I was doing it right. I thought I was doing it well. But I guess I was wrong. What do I do now? Is there anything I can do? Or have I failed? What more is there for me now that I no longer have what I wanted?