Fear of criticism is what prevents a person from developing, succeeding, voicing his opinion, finding his calling. Today the world works like this: no matter what a person does, people around him will want to judge him. This can be haters on social networks, executives, competitors, customers, even family and loved ones. Why do people like to criticize so much and how do you stop being afraid of it?
What Is Criticism: The True Meaning
For personal and professional growth, you have to get out of your comfort zone, do something for the first time, make mistakes, learn from your mistakes. This is the only way to grow as a person and a professional at anything from working to betting at a safe bookmaker. But if you are afraid of criticism, then subconsciously you will remain at the same level where everything is familiar to you and where you have already reached your ceiling.
Fear of criticism is one of the signs of insecurity. And until you stop depending on other people’s opinions and believing them to be true, you cannot begin to believe in yourself and discover your potential.
To understand how to stop being afraid of criticism, you need to realize what it really is.
Criticism is the opinion of another person that you don’t justify. That is, subconsciously the person who criticizes believes that others must conform to his personal ideas and that he has the right to judge them if they don’t.
People who are accustomed to criticizing others solve their problems, not others’, through criticism, including:
- Lack of attention. Criticism is an easy way to get attention by voicing one’s opinion. A person wants to be noticed, this communication strategy comes from childhood;
- The habit of devaluing the successes of others. Through criticism of others a person tries to throw them off the pedestal, to put them on their deserved, in his opinion, place, judge their achievements in a negative way because he could not achieve the desired;
- dissatisfaction with oneself. Other people’s success often causes envy. People who have found their calling always face criticism from others.
- Critics are unrealized mentors who have an unmet need to teach, to pass on their experience. But they don’t understand that this can be done through support, teaching, caring, helping, not judging. Likewise, parents can be critical or supportive.
People who are afraid of being judged by others often are:
- Perceive them as strict parents whose expectations need to be met. This is an uncovered program from childhood.
- Allow themselves to be attacked. Critics often make their arguments to those people who are expected to obey, to try to conform to their expectations.
But people cannot know what is good and what is bad for you. Their attacks are simply psychological defenses that are expressed through aggression. Anything new is unacceptable to them, anything that goes against their expectations. It’s frightening, it causes a sense of protest, which they express as best they can.
How Not to Be Afraid of Criticism: Simple Tips
Independence from the statements of others who try to judge you for what you do and for not conforming to their expectations is one of the main qualities of an independent person.
It’s important to give up the familiar role from your childhood, in which you only wanted to be shown love, praise, approval, and pity. Strangers are rarely caring parents. And if you do something truly meaningful, you will constantly face criticism from others, because they will try to stop you, to “reduce” you, because they themselves are incapable of growing over themselves.
That said, self-confidence is one of the secrets of communication. If you are courageous to accept other people’s statements, people will reach out to you, learn from your example, in their eyes you will become a charming person.
A person who is not afraid of criticism always attracts attention.
Here’s how to build up personal armor and stop responding to criticism from others:
- Give up a defensive stance, don’t attack back. That way you can get into resonance with the negative low-vibrational energies of the person who likes to criticize other people.
- Give up the idea that you need to be comfortable and good for everyone. If you go your own way, there will always be those who will judge you, because they themselves are incapable of growing, of achieving more.
- Remember the essence of aggressive criticism. It’s most often an acknowledgement of your success and that you are doing what you think is right, without regard for the demands of others.
- Show love and pity for the one who is zealously criticizing. Surely he is weaker, has lost his bearings in life, does not believe in himself, does not know how to learn from his mistakes, he cannot grow.
- When you learn to feel love even for people who take the position of a critical parent who is teaching everyone around you, you are living on highly vibrational energies. You become a mentor who shows these people that it’s possible to live differently, that it’s possible not to respond to aggression and not to waste your resources.
Investing in yourself is the best investment. And through critics you learn not to judge them, to believe in yourself, to be able to grow above yourself. When judgment ceases to return you to your childhood, to the position of a little dependent person, then you will gain an inner core and stop doubting yourself.
If you want to cope with the fear of criticism, stop trying on other people’s statements. Such words – just a reflection of their insults, doubts, and complexes. They have nothing to do with you, so it’s important to stop believing them.
