I’m starting to think that maybe, just maybe, I’m a little bit too sensitive when it comes to criticism. This is quite the statement to make on a platform theoretically available to anyone with access to an internet connection. It is a distinct possibility, after all, that not everything I post here will receive universal acclaim. Assuming my wide-ranging ramblings on here are ever noticed, of course. I guess I’ll just have to deal with it should my musings on what I’m going to read next draw notable criticism.
Nevertheless, my sensitivity to criticism was highlighted today when I was given some negative feedback regarding some work I had submitted. It’s not that I don’t understand the necessity of criticism. You can’t really function in general society without being able to accept that not everyone will agree with what you do. Or that they will be right on a significant number of occasions. Not that I agreed with the criticism on this occasion (the work I’d produced was in line with the previous piece, which had been accepted without complaint), but that, I realized after a bit, wasn’t the nub of the issue either.
No, the thing which really bothered me the most was the combination of the rudeness, and the suddenness with which it was delivered. This drive-by rudeness was brief, but opened with a sentence that included the phrase ‘unforgivably dull’. And that sounds like the sort of thing you write when you’re actively trying to be mean, not something you’d put in a professional email. And the suddenness came from the fact that my one previous interaction with this person had been neutral, even slightly friendly. Perhaps they just had a bad day and that turned what would have been a polite ‘no thank you’ into this, but I’m not going to speculate.
Still, I am getting better at dealing with this sort of thing. Aside from writing an entry about it in my online journal, I mostly haven’t dwelled on it too much. In the past, I’d have fixated on it for the entire day, swinging between outrage at the sudden rudeness and obsessing over the fact that someone thinks poorly of me. Instead, I mostly focused on getting on with my day, and the last couple of hours have been spent mostly watching some fun videos on YouTube about Ancient Greece. And writing all of this down does help me realize that if these are the kinds of issues which consume me, then I live a pretty charmed life overall.