Why do you face criticism? What should you do about it?

Why do you face criticism? Do you think that others are right in criticizing you churlishly? What should you do for handling criticisms? Let us find out.

Experts point out that if you are constantly being criticized by a few folks, it shows that these folks are nervous either about your competence, knowledge, or intelligence or about your good looks. By criticizing you, they try to find a level-playing field. Of course, there may be a few others who are genuinely concerned about your wellbeing. They may criticize you with an aim to bring about transformations or improvements in you. This means there may be some merit in their criticism. 

There can be yet another group of people who always wish to show that they are always in charge of things. They want to prove their superiority by criticizing you. A few others may feel insecure when you are around. They may criticize you because they aim to advance their positions or receive better favors from others than what you get. In a nutshell and in most cases, jealousy is the main cause that triggers a criticizing attitude in people.

How should you respond to criticism?

If the person who criticizes you is a narcissist, you may feel like setting a limit to the way he or she goes about doing this. The same may be the case if the person is a bully or a competitor who does not have any qualms about playing dirty. In most of these instances, you may think that setting their limits publicly is better than doing so privately. So, you may argue or defend yourself. The intention may be correcting misperceptions if any. But will this yield the desired results? The answer is in the negative because once they get snubbed, they may wait for another opportunity, seemingly a more appropriate one, for mudslinging you or for putting you in an unenviable or embarrassing situation,

If defending your position or arguing is not the right option, what is the right way to deal with such criticisms? The following two points may help.

1. By defending your own position or by arguing with those who criticize you constantly, you are proving that you are angry or not happy with their criticisms. In other words, you are allowing them to control your emotions including your happiness. According to Bernard Baruch, whom six US Presidents, Wilson, Harding, Coolidge, Hoover, Roosevelt, and Truman, trusted as an adviser, "No man can humiliate me or disturb me. I won't let them." As Dale Carnegie says, "Let's never try to get even with our enemies, because if we do we will hurt ourselves far more than we hurt them."

2. It is not necessary that you should create a good impression in the minds of everyone. In fact, it is a futile exercise because you will not be successful whatever may be the effort you put forth. If you are sensitive to the criticisms you face and if you keep on taking actions based on the criticisms, you will soon find that you have more enemies than before. This is because when you try to satisfy one person, another person may get upset. If you satisfy the second person, yet another person will get angry and so on. Simply put, you cannot satisfy everyone. So, instead of worrying about criticisms, do your best and ignore them. This suggestion will all the more be effective when the criticisms you hear are unjust.

By adopting this approach to the hilt, you will always be happy and have peace of mind throughout your life's journey despite the fact that the criticisms you face are torrential in nature.