Holding on to self-belief when faced with a barrage of criticism is the virtue of the wise and the trait of a tough mind. When you begin to understand yourself well, you know what you are good at and what you are not good at. You understand your strengths and weaknesses to a large extent. In such a scenario, if anybody tries to claim that you are not good at some particular thing, which you know you are good at, then that can be very insulting and hurting.
I have faced such scenarios a few times in life, the latest one being very recently. I can tell you that if such harsh criticism comes from somebody you love and respect, then it is very difficult to accept. This is all the more true for people like me who have a high degree of self-esteem. It is very easy to accept criticism of any of your weakness, but never so of your strength. However, if you are a mentally tough individual, you tend to put such baseless allegations behind you and move on. I have always felt that the best way to answer criticism, from anybody, is to keep the mouth shut and to let performances speak. If somebody tells me that I lack confidence, which is totally a false statement, the only way that I can prove that person wrong is by being myself and staying confident in whatever I do every time.
The one thing I believe is that, most of the time, people criticize you harshly because they are jealous of your success. They want you to feel depressed and lose your self-confidence. They are stopping your way by baseless loose talk because you are on the right track and they feel insecure. The best way to counter it is never to lose your confidence and self –belief, no matter what they say, and carry on with what you do best. If you keep doing well, all people who had earlier made a mockery of you or insulted you will die to meet you and show you respect.
I have heard stories about how much Tagore was not given his due respect at one point in his life by the people of the West. He was sharply criticized and some people even went to the extent to say that Tagore cannot write even a line of poetry. That is why when he had received the Nobel Prize in 1913 for Gitanjali, he had written a song in Bengali “Ei Monihar Amai Naahi Shaje.”, which was a humble self recognition that “I am not worthy of such high rewards.” My point is, if people can show disrespect to a genius like Tagore, they can do so to you as well. You may not win a Nobel Prize to shut their mouths, but you can certainly lead a confident and successful life by never letting go of your self-belief.
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