I have been noticing that every word that comes out of my mouth in the past few days has been dripping with sarcasm or laced with criticism. I was just wondering what is going on. Why am I being so critical of myself and of others?
I went home yesterday and the first thing my mother says to me, is that I came home late, and I don’t do any housework.
Suddenly, the light bulb went off. This is a learned behavior for me. Wow. Its funny because I always say that I will not be critical of my children, as critical as my parents are, because it results in you never liking yourself and always thinking you are never good enough.
But surely enough, after 28 years of listening to it, I am becoming the same. I criticize, but my criticisms are in my mind funny. I make it all into a joke. I joke about the fact that you look sloppy or fat. I joke that you are lazy or you smell. I never really noticed it until now, but suddenly I see it clearly.
If I do not stop myself and actually notice all the critical comments I am about to make and turn them into a positive comment, I am on the path to destroying people’s self esteem and my self esteem as well.
Why not be nice to people? Is it that hard? Is it that hard to say something nice?
I found that I am also extra critical of men, and I give a lot of leeway to women. In my head, women are perfect, and men are useless and a burden.
Again, this all comes from my mother’s way of thinking. She thinks that exact thing all the time, as she had a bad time with my father when they were younger, although they are happily married at the moment.
So my goal in the future is to control my criticisms, especially towards the males in my life.
What do you think of criticism? Do you think it helps or hurts the person you are handing it out to? Let me know in the comments below.
Luv!