“Does not take constructive criticism well.”

The Rogue Princess Squadron has been taking on Geek Social Fallacies. (They have currently written their thoughts about 2 of the 5.)

My thoughts –

I don’t really have any experience one way or the other, and tend to agree overall with what Princess Ang said. (What the other princesses added gave me lots to think about!)

I can say with total personal authority that I do not take constructive criticism well.  In fact, in school I got excellent grades for the most part, but always had negative marks for constructive criticism.

My reactions today are much better than they were as a child. But, they are still not that great.  *wink*

Because of this, I have spent a large portion of time thinking about WHY. Here’s what I’ve come up with!

My parents always told me to try my best. When I try my best, and it is not good enough (or maybe simply not what the person had in mind), I feel like I failed. It has taken me a long time to figure out that sometimes a person’s reactions (mine included) sometimes have nothing at all to do with what actually happened.There are always going to be a myriad of reasons, some that you may never even know!

Sometimes it is sort of like auditioning to be a tall skinny girl character when you are a beef muscley dood.  You are not going to get the part because it’s not meant for you.

In this way, life is not fair. But, when you don’t “win,” other opportunities open up that you never anticipated in the first place. But you have to be open to them.

When I am criticized, I shut down. Therefore, I am not open to what might come next. It can be a real big problem for me, and it is something I work on every day.