Resiliency

I like to think that I am tough. I tend to assume most people know what they are talking about, so I take critiques very seriously. This generally works well for me because people are willing to be honest with me when they know I make a point of listening to what they say. The problem in this situation is that these were not general circumstances.

Sometimes people focus more on themselves than on the other person (or the situation at large) when they are offering critiques and that can muck up the flow of communication.

I just suffered from one such incident that took me down for about a day. The critique did have some fair points, but there were enough "inaccuracies"--by which I mean that one's perspective made all the difference--that I found the entire exchange deflating and disheartening. Add in some complex relationship histories and the whole thing just devastated me.

I successfully fought the temptation to get into a pissing match and point out all of the places where I disagreed. I was actually pretty proud of myself for that. But, I remain left with an unmet need to respond. I played with the idea of responding but not sending the response. But everytime I thought about that it just made me tired.

So, I decided to start this blog instead. I feel this is a more productive and positive way to direct my energy and I have been looking for an outlet for those thoughts that don't belong on any of the other blogs I post to.

And how am I feeling today? Actually, pretty good.