Don't Reject Rejection

I am now more confident in giving feedback to my peers, but I also have to grow within my own writing by adapting new writing habits, listing to feedback, and not holding myself back. Anna Kelsey-Sugg and Ann Arnold wrote an article addressing the importance of having the correct mindset while working. Your mind can be your biggest enemy. This is most true for me when I run. Even though I am in the physical shape to run further distances or at a faster pace, my mind holds me back. I convince myself that I can not go faster or if I go out that extra mile, I will be too tired to make it back to my starting point. The same can happen with writing. It is easy to stick with the same style of writing or writing about the same topics because we find it "safe". Kelsey-Sugg and Ann Arnold give some examples and tips on how to fix this. Some examples to help with writer's block or branching out for some new ideas are changing your workspace and reading more articles. 

In addition to writing in the correct mindset, the issue of praise and compliments is also brought up. Praise is not always beneficial. The article explains how praise is a good thing but there is a limit. Compliments and criticism balance each other out. without criticism, one does not realize that there is room to grow. Personally, I have no issue with criticism because my mother has the opposite philosophy. She thinks that if you receive praise you become weak. Both are true, too much praise or criticism is bad. If you compliment a child too often then they do not deal with criticism well in the future.  Guy Winch explains in his article the reasons why rejection hurts. Our brains respond to rejection the same way they respond to physical pain. It is the way our brains are wired. Winch says that the greatest amount of rejection and hurt is caused by ourselves. This goes back to the first article when Kelsey-Sugg and Arnold said that our mind can be our biggest enemy. Winch stresses his points on raising your self-esteem. As a species that enjoys and values interactions, we take rejection hard. Reminding ourselves that we have worth and by taking pride in our work will help make the blow of rejection less painful.