You walk into your office, and your boss criticises you for being late.
You are running errands and a small misstep invites a tiff from a passer-by.
You tend to feel sad or dejected that even your best intentions resulted in a crisis, and that sets a sad vibe for the day. It’s true that no one likes criticism of any sort and we tend to take it on a negative note. It is natural for us to feel the need to be respected. After all, we are social beings, and we want to be valued by our fellows. While some comments or actions of others can actually be offensive, if you feel that you tend to get easily hurt very often or you always end up concluding that someone wanted to inflict emotional harm upon you, it is likely that you may be prone to taking things personally. But for the sake of your own mental health, read on to know how to stop taking things personally.

How to stop taking things personally?

Taking things personally generally stems from a lack of self-worth. However, whatever the root cause, you can always grow beyond the things that are weighing you down to emerge to become a better version of yourself.

Here are some tips from Shivam, Author and Emotional Intelligence Life Coach, to learn how to better manage other’s people sharp comments or criticism of any sort.

1. Work on your self-worth

A person’s low self-worth makes him/her a victim of sorrow or dejection from other people’s comments. When we are insecure within ourselves, we tend to feel hurt more easily as other people’s opinion about us triggers parts of us that are already insecure. Learn to believe in yourself, and learn to walk on sure-footed in life.

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“Stop attaching everything to self-worth. Many times, low self-worth leads us to take things personally because we make every comment or action of others just about ourselves, and we start doubting our capabilities,” explains life coach Shivam.

2. Communication is key

When we have a row with someone, we start building a story in our head, taking both sides of the conversation. We start feeling worse by building a narrative that comes from a place of negative emotions. If you feel that there is some miscommunication that leads to this issue, then go ahead and resolve it using the art of healthy communication.

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3. Journaling can help

Write down your thoughts. The more you journal your thoughts, the more you gain clarity about the irrelevance of your extreme thoughts, says Shivam. When you read what you write, you will get to know that most of these thoughts are not true. So, try following a fact-based approach, and stop giving your energy by thinking about the worst-case scenario.

4. Seek professional help

Talk to a mental health professional to discuss these beliefs and behavioural traits which can be worked upon by understanding the self-worth patterns that can be worked up to help you gain a better perspective on everything.

5. Let go

Sometimes, we end up holding a lot of grudges or other negative emotions on our plate that don’t allow us to move forward in life and embrace better things. So, it’s always a good idea to let of things that are no longer serving the bigger purpose of your life. Also, let go of those beliefs that are making you take things so personally. Release the resentment that comes with holding on to these trivial beliefs, and work on the larger picture of life.