How to Manage Criticism Anxiety

<p>One of the hardest parts of starting the Rebel Buddhist Podcast for me was anxiety around receiving possible criticism. If someone says something on a social media post or a blog post, I’m able to respond and maybe even point out where they misunderstood or something. But for a pod, someone can just say something and that’s it… it’s out there, without a chance for me to respond.</p><p> </p><p>That was really scary to me because I really want to feel understood...and I like other people to think I’m right (don’t we all?).</p><p> </p><p>I hear this fear of criticism a lot in my clients when they talk about why they’re resisting putting themselves out there. Then there are people who are writers, actors, or chefs, and in those professions there are people whose <strong>job </strong>it is to be critical of others’ work. I asked an artist friend how she learned to deal with that, and she said she had to develop a thick skin over time.</p><p> </p><p>So how do we manage criticism of our career or our creativity so that it doesn’t keep us from putting our unique gift out into the world?</p><p> </p><p>First is to understand where it comes from. Fear is a legitimate reaction. Our primal brain was trained to seek approval and validation for survival, because if we were ostracized, it could mean literal death – no help with food, water, shelter, or protection. So reacting fearfully makes sense from that perspective.</p><p> </p><p>One option to manage criticism is avoiding it, and trying to protect yourself from criticism by living a vanilla, safe, insulated life, hoping that if you don’t stand out, no one will notice. But humans are resilient AF. Sure, we can plan small and <i>feel</i>safer, but that is <strong>not</strong> what we were built for!</p><p> </p><p>Plus, when you play small to please others, your inner critic gets loud about you not putting yourself out there more. You’ll be uncomfortable either way - feeling the <strong>risk </strong>of discomfort by putting yourself out there, or <strong>guaranteed </strong