Pay No Mind To The Doubtful Critics | #BeYourBold ✨

There will always be people in your life who are critical of absolutely everything that you and others do. They nitpick, nag, and act like they know what’s best for you… they don’t. The only person who can decide on the best use of their time is you and you alone! It is your time after all.

Never forget that you choose what to do with your time, not anyone else. That means you can hike, bike, read, write, skydive, dance, etc. without it mattering what someone else thinks. Unless what you are doing is harming you in some way, you have to learn to ignore the critics.

Critic: a person who tends too readily to make captious, trivial, or harsh judgments; faultfinder.

Sound like the type of person you want to comment on your everyday moves? Probably not. That being said, they will find you and they will criticize you. That’s why you have to pay no mind! The less time and energy you spend worrying about them, the more you can focus on what really matters.

It all begins and ends in your mind. What you give power to, has power over you.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying to ignore them completely. In fact, listening to critics can help you to better yourself. What you don’t want is them defining what you say and do because they got to your head. It is crucial to keep them at arms length so you don’t fall into the critic trap. 

You are defined by your unique qualities, your strengths, and your passions. Letting others define you will only hold you back from success and shadow your true identity.

Believe it or not it’s hard to not be yourself. 

I scroll through Instagram sometimes and shake my head at the comments users leave on others photos. They put so much thought into trying to tear someone else down for their life choices. If you don’t like it just unfollow, block, or scroll by. It is useless to spend time being hurtful and rude.

Even the more subtle critics. These are usually friends, family, or coworkers who know you personally. Their ‘hints’ and comments about your choices don’t seem confrontational or opinionated but they are. A lot of the time you have those words in the back of your head because you let them get to you. From my experience, these are what get to you the most.

When dealing with critics always remember this: Critics judge things based on what is outside of their content of understanding.

~ Shannon L. Alder

Why doubtful is key here: Those who doubt you are more likely fearful (or hopeful) you will not be successful. They are the ones you should strive to prove wrong! Let their doubtful comments go right over your head because you don’t need them. Laugh it off and keep going.

The critics are a sign you are doing something right. If you never push yourself to the point where people voice their doubt then you might not be taking enough risk. No risk, no reward. Sometimes we make questionable decisions but we learn from them and keep growing and better ourselves.

There is no right or wrong answer to making a decision. You have your right and I have mine. We have individual minds that make no opinion right or wrong. That’s the biggest misconception! Very rarely will you have the same opinion as everybody else and that is a-okay because we’re all human.

Food for thought 

I was out running last night and this woman who obviously had nothing better to do started flagging me down. I stopped and she started going on-and-on because my tank was offending her. She had nothing but negative things to say and I was shocked someone would have the audacity to do such a thing. I laughed it off and kept going.

What really amused me was the fact that my shirt stating ‘Disruptor’ can have both positive and negative connotations. She knew nothing about me or my life and decided to try and tear me down while I was out doing what I love, running. These standby critics, similar to those on social media, are the ones who are unhappy with themselves and would do anything to make others lives worse.

My honest advice on critics

Guess what? Joke is on people like her because, if anything, it made me run faster. You don’t know what someone else is going through and can’t judge from a slogan on a t-shirt. You can’t judge from their appearance, where they live, or what they do. Everyone is unique and lives their own life.

If you took everything people said about you, thought about you, or commented about you to heart then you would be a very unhappy and doubtful person. You are bold and you are so much better than that. Don’t aim to be the critic when you can be the one they want to talk about.

And never forget to just be happy. Negativity will tear you down and eat away at your mental strength! Critics are no reason to change yourself. Embrace the way you are and starting kicking ass the way you want to; boldly.

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