Dealing with Criticism: A Personal Journey

Criticism could be either use in a positive way to improve or a negative way that can lower your self-esteem and cause stress anger or even aggression. When I was growing up I had to deal with criticism through school. People would say I was tall and skinny or my hair wasn’t real. My legs were so long that it was so hard to buy me any pants, once I made it to middle school. As a child my mother didn’t believe in adding chemicals to our hair, so I grew up with very natural and thick hair. Some people would ask me “Is that all you hair?” “Is that weave?” or some people would just run their fingers through my hair. I hated this criticism so bad that I would only want to wear my hair in a ponytail with a ball. I would beg and plead my mom to just let me cut my hair because I was sick of the

What are the key issues? Why is he/she reacting this way? Sometimes, the person giving the feedback may not be aware of the real areas of concern. Ultimately, I see negative feedback as positive, because it shows there are people who want what you have. Negative feedback also tells us our opportunities for growth. No matter where we are in life, all of us will have blind spots we don’t know about. These blind spots prevent us from reaching the next stage of growth. While negative feedback may not be pleasant to receive, they give us a different perspective to consider. By learning from more different perspectives, we can grow much faster. If I look back, negative criticism has made me a stronger and better person. Despite the potential value of constructive criticism, many people don’t use this tool properly.” Sybil Keane, PhD, a psychology and relationship expert for the Web site Just Answer. Often, that’s because they are unsure of how to give constructive criticism without hurting a person feelings.” You should always listen respectfully when a person is trying to tell you something negative, it is easy to get upset and focus only on the critical aspects of the