Criticism

 

Quite some time ago, after a lot of thinking about it, I decided that in my world there is no room for me to criticize others, nor is there a place in it for me to receive criticism.  I have zero tolerance for criticism and here is why.  It serves no useful purpose.

 

We are all different.  We all have our own ways of thinking, believing and doing things and that is completely okay.  When you offer criticism of others you are disrespecting their differences.  No one has to be like us and no one needs to do things the way we do them.  As long as the end result meets the need, who cares?  Why are we so critical of other people?  There are those that seek to find fault and point it out at every turn and I truly do not understand this.

 

It boggles my mind when hateful and critical comments are left for bloggers and vloggers for the sole purpose of what exactly?  To prove they are so much better or smarter?  Do they have any comprehension whatsoever to how much work goes into posting an article or a video?  Sadly, they probably don’t even care.  They just need to leave that comment and get that dopamine hit.  I won’t ever be a Youtuber because I’m not going to put myself in that position.  Those trolls are brutal.

 

Criticism simply serves no useful purpose.  It is judgmental, disrespectful, demeaning, counterproductive and hurtful.  Why does anyone want to do that to a fellow human being?  For me, criticism has the opposite effect.  It immediately makes me think that this person is an idiot.  If it is mild criticism I choose to ignore it.  If it is rude, mean or hateful I have no problem telling that person to stop, I’m not interested.  If it comes in the form of a blog comment I just hit delete.  Constructive criticism is anything but.  I’ve never felt good after someone delivered some “constructive criticism”.  Therefore, it wasn’t all that constructive.

 

Criticism is an exercise in so many things you may not even realize.  Did you know that control, dominance, fear, insecurity, envy and a lack of empathy all can play a part in why we tend to criticize others?  The need for perfectionism is another.  There are far better ways of communication than to criticize others.  It may require us to be more open minded and accepting of the way other people think, believe and do things.  And if you can’t, then simply stay quiet, don’t say it and just walk away.  It is okay to do that.  The point is to be kind and minimize our ability to hurt others.

 

As an imperfect person I can honestly say that I still make judgments or become critical of the actions or statements of others.  When I catch myself I will then ask “Why?”  Once I think about why I’m having that thought or judgment I realize it has nothing to do with that person and everything to do with my own feelings or view on the subject.  I now have the opportunity to change my way of thinking or feeling and let it go.

 

I know a lot of people that are overly critical and I know people that I rarely if ever hear a criticism and I can tell you who I tend to gravitate towards.  The less critical people in my life are the ones I spend my time with.  They are far more positive in general and much more enjoyable to be around.  I’m all about that positive energy.

Maybe the next time you start to find yourself being critical or about to criticize someone stop and ask yourself why you are thinking like that.  I think we can all be a bit more open minded and tolerant.  We can all certainly benefit from more kindness in our lives.