“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
~Theodore Roosevelt~
We are at a time and place in our culture where the critic is everywhere. Our digital age has made it incredibly easy to lash out in negativity at people on the other side of the world. Or right next door. Both of whom we may never meet in person. And it can all be done anonymously behind the safety of the keyboard.
There is something about our virtual world that has depersonalized, dehumanized and created a toxic environment where some feel free to say things they would never say to someone’s face. The comment section of any news story is a microcosm of the critic mentality. Take a quick scroll and see the cruelty, shaming, blaming and outright hate that resides there.
When we step out and dare greatly to create and contribute to our world, we are also accepting the risk of being the target of the critic. We are human and most of us will naturally feel the sting of the criticism to some degree. But the critic cannot make us feel anything and cannot make us do anything. The thoughts we have about the critic do all that for us. We may not have control over the critic, but we have 100% control over our thoughts. And that’s the good news.
To the creators: we cannot stop the critic and we cannot let the critic stop us. And sometimes the critic IS us. Keep going, keep striving. Don’t ignore the critic, but don’t let them deter you from your mission. Monitor your thoughts and the feelings they produce. If your thoughts are not serving you, decide to reframe your thoughts about the critic. How will those new thoughts make you feel? What action will you take?
The critic can crush us or fuel us. And WE get to decide.