Day 282 - It Doesn't Take Much to Tip the Balance

One of life's toughest lessons is to learn to accept criticism with equanimity and grace. It isn't easy to hear someone else pointing out a mistake or a weakness, or to hear someone dismiss my point of view or minimize what I have to say. On the other hand, I don't want to be around only people who think like I do or believe only what I believe. I am not delusional enough to think that I am always right or that my way of thinking is always the most logical or the only path to truth. But what I do prefer is that people deal with me gently instead of with nastiness, criticism or sarcasm. When I am feeling well and strong I can take criticism in stride and explore its value or relevance with a sense of balance and calm, but not so much on a bad day.

 

Today someone left a comment on my blog that hurt my feelings. It wasn't a terrible comment, it was mostly just something that dismissed me and my experience. Writing this blog has been really helpful to me. Each day I focus on something that impacted me in some way and I work on writing from a place of honesty.  I'm only mentioning the sarcastic comment because I reacted to it badly. I spent most of the day asleep and woke up with a migraine, so I was feeling sick, tired and vulnerable so to read something with a bite in it hit me in a way it probably wouldn't have on a better day.

 

Part of coping with lifes circumstances is dealing with the good, the bad, the positive and the negative without losing balance. But today's comment piled on top of an already bad day, left me feeling a bit down and discouraged. On a good day I can deal with frustrations more easily, I can handle setbacks or life's little annoyances without making a bit deal out of it. On my good days I am much better at just taking things in stride. When I am in a stressful life space when one thing gets added, whether it's criticism or a complicated problem, it simply tips the balance. Dealing with my fibro is an underlying daily stress and when I have a bad day. the balance is already tipped, so anything that's the least bit on the negative side is going to feel magnified. So, I did what I do. I acknowledged my feelings, talked them through and let them go. Now I can look at that comment and just acknowledge that someone had a different point of view, or didn't see things the same way I did, and be done with it. That's what gets me back in balance.