Sometimes my baseline response to pain can get the better of me. If someone gives me difficult feedback or criticizes me it can make me want to run or fight. And those instincts are good in many cases. They keep me safe or allow me to defend what’s mine and what I believe in.
However, sometimes such a quick response doesn’t allow me to actually take the feedback in. I go instantly to finding all the ways that I’m right. I build my case for why the criticism is wrong. Instead of stepping back and entertaining the idea that maybe I gave less than my best. Seeing the truth in the feedback that someone gave. And finding the ways that I could be wrong.
This is so hard to do. To slow down. See both sides. Because it’s scary and can shake my belief in my myself.
But it’s also exciting because it presents a chance to get better. To learn. To live outside the bubble that I build for myself in safety.
In most situations I trust my gut instincts. But I also know from experience that I can react in anger or disbelief too quickly. The emotion behind this response isn’t wrong. It’s painful to hear that I’m not always right or good at what I do. It’s what I do in the moments after when I have time to reflect. When my heart rate comes down. Those are the moments that matter and define the person that I can become.
