For me, the most accurate description of a critic Is encapsulated in the following quote:
“A critic Is someone who walks onto the battlefield after the war Is over, and shoots the wounded.”
There Is such truth in that! Critics are normally on the side-lines, not engaged in the “battle”. Consider this, who is your biggest critic? For a lot of people, it’s often themselves. For most of humanity, it’s most often the people closest to us. Also consider that in this era of digitalisation and social media, where everyone is “so connected”, there are so many opinions and criticisms! Everyone has something to say or some smart comment to provide. It’s the way the world turns right now. Can we change that? No. Is it out of OUR control? Yes. Be that as it may, what is WITHIN our control?
We’d like to help you with starting to control the controllable.
Let’s start by understanding why we allow the voices on the outside and the voice on the inside to deter us. Why do they carry so much weight? Why do we give them such value? For me, the below quote, puts it in perspective.
“You know yourself better than anyone else, yet, at times you crumble at the words of someone who hasn’t lived a second of your life. Focus on your own voice. It’s the only one that really matters.”
Why, oh why, does other people’s opinions & criticisms affect us so? We take that all personally because we are conditioned to FIT IN. From school, to every other establishment where there are large groups of humans. They make us fit in that mould that they designed. We’re always cautioned to “draw within the lines”. I mean, dammit, one of my first memories is sitting at a parent-teacher meeting with my folks, and the teacher said: “You know, Hennie is doing well at other things, but when it comes to colouring in, he doesn’t do so within the lines.”
I remember those words like they were said yesterday—close to 40 years later! I relayed this story to a good friend and funnily enough, he told me he had a similar meeting with a teacher and his seven year old son recently, and the teacher mentioned something along similar lines to him and his retort was:
“The world is full enough of people who draw within the lines.”
Bless his soul!
You might find this interesting; do you know what other synonyms are for the word “critic”?
- Detractor
- Opponent
- Enemy
- Faultfinder
- Knocker
- Judge
None of those synonyms are positive. Why be perturbed by it? It’s ultimately up to you, to choose how you see and perceive the critic on the outside. The most successful people on this planet, do not put much value in what people criticize them on, or on failing at getting something right the first time. It’s the belief you must have within yourself! If you failed at something, do you criticize yourself? Or do you treat failure as part of the learning process that evolves you towards improvement, or does It defeat you?
Then, there is also the other side; and please take an honest look at yourself—Do you find yourself criticizing others? Often? In this day, In this country, on this earth… There sure is massive room for criticism—have you fallen trap to that same narrative?
Join us and let’s change that!
Choose a Lesson plan to get started. Preferably, start with Lesson 1: Be Grateful if you haven’t done it already. Once you’ve completed lessons, let us know your experience and how it’s improved your life in our Facebook Group.
