How to Deal With Someone Who Criticizes

If someone criticizes you, avoid arguing with that person.

People who criticize are hard to be around and cause others to feel hurt, angry or offended. These types of people are often hurt themselves and handle the relationships in their lives by hurting and criticizing others. Most of the time, the people they criticize are the people closest to them whom they love the most. If you have a person in your life who criticizes you often, develop a strategy to handle his comments and realize that his comments are not at all a reflection of who you are.

Instructions

1. Understand this type of person and why he acts this way. Normally, a happy person does not criticize others in a hurtful way. People who constantly criticize often do this to cover up their own insecurities and make them feel better about themselves. They are often people who have suffered a lot of pain in their lives and use this as a type of defense toward others.

2. Listen to the person. Do not retaliate immediately when someone criticizes you. Try to learn something from it. Maybe there is some truth to what the person is saying, but then again, maybe not.

3. Thank him for his opinion. Throw the person off a little by thanking him for his comments and opinions. He will expect you to argue back, but if you avoid this, he may stop criticizing and may change his tone with you. When you receive a criticism, simply let it go in one ear and out the other.

4. Avoid defending yourself. People who criticize normally want an argument to happen. After they say something rude or mean, they expect you to retaliate by defending yourself. If you do this, an argument will most likely occur. Do not try to argue with a person like this. There is no way for you to defend yourself, so let him believe what he wants to, because chances are, he will anyway.

5. Be confident in yourself. Do not let these criticisms get you down. Have confidence in knowing that you try your best and you are proud of yourself, regardless of what he thinks. Realize too, that you are not perfect, and everyone will make mistakes from time to time.

6. Let him know how you feel. Another way to deal with a person who criticizes is to tell him in a nice way that the things he is saying hurt your feelings or make you feel angry. Do not say this in a threatening way, but instead say it in a polite and diplomatic way.

Tips & Warnings

• Always keep your cool with a person who criticizes. Laugh off the comments and always remember that these criticisms most likely show the faults and failures of the person speaking them.

References

• Life With Confidence; How to Deal with People who Put you Down; Catherine Pratt