From Criticism to Motivation

From the 19 years that I am existing in this world, I can't count anymore how many times I received criticisms. Whether from the people I am close to, to the ones who don't even know me, criticisms are always being thrown.

Sometimes I am discouraged especially if the criticisms are true enough for me to felt guilty about it. I am not perfect, no one of us, I should say. We often commit mistakes but it doesn't mean that we will just move on one without people noticing it. Some have the eyes of a hawk, who always see what's wrong with us. Even if our flaws are not that visible for them to see shallowly, they will dig deeper to bring it out. Not all people are happy with our achievements. Whether we won or loss, we are still a loser in the eye of an insecure.

I remember the time when I got a perfect score in an exam during senior high school. One of my classmates who considered me as her competitor in honor roll, recheck my test paper, but honestly, everything's fine and there's no mistakes at all. Since she didn't find any fault, she just pointed out how ugly my penmanship was under the essay type question. Yes, she's right, but I don't blame myself for that since I wrote those paragraphs as fast as I could for me to finish it until the alloted time. I thought I commit no flaws, but still there is, in the eyes of that former classmates of mine.

I can completely reminisce as well how the students from other section criticize me for being on the list of top students on the same year as what I've mentioned earlier. They didn't say those hurtful words directly to me, but I heard how they gossip about it. They keep whispering but I don't know if they want me to intentionally hear all of those, since I can clearly absorb everything they said. According to them, I was included on the list because my brother whose one of my teachers back then was biased enough for him to give me high marks. What they are trying to say is that, my brother lifted my general average, and dumped those students who are trying to surpass my rank. But, none of those are true. Honestly, my brother didn't give me a very high grade, my grades in other subjects are way better than what he gave, and I'm proud of that. And how can he be able to lift me until the third rank if I only have one subject in him? Aside from that, my other teachers don't even know were siblings so there's no reason for them to show favoritism in me.

But, that incident doesn't discouraged me at all. I made use of those criticisms as a motivation for me to build a ladder that I can climb to until I succeed. When my brother left that private school where I studied before because he already finished his contract, I saw that as an opportunity to strive better than before. I showed them what I got, without them thinking about my brother's influence anymore.

From being on the third rank, I managed to climb upto the first one.

I'm saying this not to brag about my academic achievement before, but to inspire everyone that we can make use of those criticisms we're receiving as a motivation to do better or the best of what we can. Never let those people paint our strengths with weaknesses they formed on their minds.

We are strong enough to succeed and never treat those negative words coming from envious mouth to be the reason of our failure. But, never blocked them as much as possible. Just listen to the criticisms because they can help us to be more motivated.

How can we realized that we have to do better when we are afraid to receive feedbacks from others?

And for those people who are fond of criticizing, please...

• Don't say it if you have no intentions of helping that person to change for the better.

• Don't say it just because you're envious from what they have, what they can do, or how far they can go.

• Don't criticize them just because you see them as a threat, that they can do better than you.

• If you are an expert in a particular field, please don't underestimate those people who are still on the process of learning.

Think of your humble beginnings too. Don't think as if you are the most competent among them, and never judge negatively just because they can't reach the standards you set. Be humble all the time. You started just like them as well.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

The criticisms we are receiving shouldn't be remained as they are. We should think positively by means of turning the negativities into something that will help us to rise above. We commit mistakes and we have to accept it whole-heartedly, but don't do it again next time.

Do better than before. Build a ladder of motivation out of the criticisms we received. And someday, we can be successful.

Author's Note: