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Why It’s So Hard to Take Criticism
I was going to start off by saying that I feel uniquely qualified to talk about this but then I remembered that this problem was a lot more common than I first thought.
In a way, it felt kind of good to know that I wasn’t alone when it came to failing to accept criticism gracefully. I feared it would cost me jobs and relationships, and lead to an inflexibility when it came to adapting to change.
Plus, it’s dangerous to think that criticism is merely relegated to the worst of the worst in a YouTube comment section.
As we probably know, there is constructive criticism which are non-malicious comments for improvement and negative or destructive criticism which are malicious comments that might be said for improvement. Some might even say there’s positive criticism where one shares specifically what one likes.
Obviously, it goes without saying that rarely anyone ever complains about hearing the good about themselves or what they create. But what do we do when we hear the bad about ourselves and what we create, think, say and do?
One of my favorite artists, Mac Miller, started to rely on drugs when he received negative reviews of his albums despite enjoying mainstream success. This resulted in a marijuana habit that turned into a lean habit, and I’m fairly certain that he had other…
