Can You Take It?

Take what? Criticism.

I’m currently reading “The Last Lecture” by Randy Pausch and I'm surprisingly enjoying it despite my lack of wanting to read it in the first place.

Today I had a conversation with a friend in which we talked about how I had recently dealt with a situation that had come up in my life. After going through the motions of telling her why I did what I did, she told me “well as long as you’re happy that’s all that matters”. Since I know this friend well enough, I knew this was a BS answer. I then asked her to tell me what she really thought. She proceeded to ride me hard (or maybe I just saw it that way because I was being sensitive) about how she didn’t agree and felt my whole situation could have been avoided.

It’s funny because I hadn’t wanted to tell this friend in the first place and when I told her that, she replied “why? Because you can’t accept criticism from your friends who care about you?” I shouldn’t be surprised by this comment, anyone who knows me well knows I’m not a fan of criticism…it’s always hard for me to hear. Honestly, who’s a fan of criticism? I will admit some people are better then others…but it’s a quality I openly lack.

How ironic it is that I just happen to be reading “The Last Lecture” and I just happen to come across this passage just a few short hours after my conversation with me friend:

“When you're screwing up and nobody says anything to you anymore, that means they've given up on you. That lesson has stuck with me my whole life. When you see yourself doing something badly and nobody's bothering to tell you anymore, that's a bad place to be. You may not want to hear it, but your critics are often the ones telling you they still love you and care about you, and want to make you better."

Maybe this was a sign that I need to reevaluate the way I react when my friends/family give me advice on subjects I’m not asking for advice on.

I openly voice my frustration when I continuously lend advice to one of my best friends who seems dead set on refusing it. I seem to be able to dish it just fine…but taking it is a whole other story. Again maybe this is teaching me that I should be more understanding when my friends put my advice aside and continue on a path that I may not necessarily agree with...because regardless I will love and care about my friends.

At 24 I still feel like I learn something new everyday. I’m grateful for all the lessons I seem to be learning along the way. Today was a day where everything seemed to fall into place at exactly the right time. I am again grateful; this time for the gentle reminds that God seems to send my way.

Have a good weekend.