Wouldn’t it be wonderful to go through life without ever being criticised? Perhaps,
but this is not possible. Employers, spouses, children, parents, friends and col-
leagues will all criticise you from time to time. You probably can’t stop them, but
you can learn to handle it.
Your attitude to criticism is heavily influenced by your experiences as a child; crit-
ical parents tend to raise either critical or defensive children. Only those with
very low opinions of themselves are easily hurt or embarrassed by criticism, but if
you have confidence in yourself you aren’t unduly worried by it. You realise that
people who constantly criticise others usually feel bad about themselves, and are
projecting their low self-esteem onto others.
The inability to accept a compliment is another sign of low self-esteem. People
lacking in confidence often regard compliments with suspicion, wondering why
the other person is being so nice and if there’s an ulterior motive. Get comfortable
with compliments. They make both the giver and receiver feel good and build the
self-esteem of all concerned.
Compliments and
criticisms