Do you have one? Come on! I know you do.
There are a few instances when we put on this identity, and we become the critic. Have you ever been in a room full of girls watching a beauty pageant? Have you seen a bunch of girls watch the Bachelor – especially in the beginning of the season – these shows bring out the critic in us.
But the show right now that brings the critic out of us is American Idol. Really. We sit here and we have opinions about what is good and what is not good. We sit here and we know when it sounds good and when it doesn’t sound good. It brings out the critic in us.
We’re pretty good at being critics of other people, but the thing that we criticize the most is our selves. Insecurity and fear push against us. We might be able to deal with it when someone else is giving it to us, but when you are giving to yourself – you will cut right to where it hurts – because it’s you. You know what hurts. Self-criticism is way more harsh than anything anyone can say to you.
When you read the title, you didn’t necessarily think about how you might be a critic to yourself. You can’t not listen to yourself – you will so what you have to learn is work through your critic identity of yourself. Make sense?