I guess I have been the lucky one....I have been able to take criticism & place it where it belongs. I analyze what is said....then I look at myself & decide whether it applies or whether I can throw it away.

I grew up as an only child....definitely a perfectionist. I expect only the best out of myself & work until I drop to acheive the best I can do. Usually because I'm the perfectionist, the best I can do is as close to perfect as I can get. I was the same in school with getting A's. When I didn't do well, I always looked at myself to see if that was the best I could do. If it was, then I was happy with myself even though it wasn't perfect.

Others could never be as hard on me as I am, so I wasn't worried about what they said. I had a time at work where I hated what I was doing....even when I hate what I'm doing, I try to do the best I can.....but it wasn't quite what they wanted. I worked on doing those things & then when I found a position that fit me better, they wouldn't let me go because I was doing such a good job.....I showed them....I left.

I guess my question is that if I had to do all that thinking about all those steps before I could handle criticism, I would go crazy.....sometimes we just have to work on our attitudes & make them in control of the criticism to put it in it's place....once you have self-estem, all the thinking isn't necessary & criticism can be put into it's place & the people who criticise can be blown off or we can listen to the concept behind the criticism & decide whether or not to try & apply it to our lives.

Just a thought,
Debbie