Nothing others say or do is because of you.

It’s because of themselves.

Not too long ago (2014), I launched a small, and simple online course. It was my first attempt at it, something completely new to me. I will not go into details of the course itself, but the content is related to personal development. Just something I felt compelled to share with others. Plus, I wanted to try a new medium.

I’m really glad I did it, and I will definitely do it again. In fact, I have another one coming up.

But now back to the topic.

This course quickly gained students, over 1.600, and some good feedback.

And then it happened, my first 1 star rating and a very negative review to go with it.

Now let me tell you, I didn’t create false expectations. I knew this was something new, and like everything in life, it takes doing the action to learn, and eventually get better at it.

I wasn’t surprised at all to receive this 1 star rating. What did surprise me was how this person took an effort to actually try to make me few bad.

When something like this happens, our instinct is to react. If you read my previous post, you know this is usually not the best way to deal with this kind of situation. In this specific case, my instinct would lead me to reacting mindlessly, and in a negative way.

So instead, I sent the person an honest message thanking him for taking time to try my course, and for leaving me an honest review.

That was it. I didn’t try to make him feel bad, and most importantly, I didn’t do it to make me feel better either. The message I sent was genuine, I really meant it. Although I didn’t appreciate the fact at first, I understood and accepted it.

If he feels my course is that bad, there’s absolutely nothing I can do about it. It’s his personal opinion.

What I can do, is to focus on getting better. And that’s exactly what I aim to do.

I believe there’s a lesson to be learned in every situation. It’s up to us to figure it out, take it home, and then move on. We will always have to deal with harsh critics. From my experience, the best way to go about it, is to just don’t take anything personally. If you’re a good-hearted person, you will always try to please everyone. I still find myself trying too hard. But now I understand this is not possible. And it’s actually a good thing.

We’re all different, living in different places, creating different life experiences. It’s only fair that we have different views, opinions, and tastes. Accept the fact that you will never be able to please everyone. I can guarantee that you will find yourself feeling much lighter, even when people try to bring you down for no clear reason.

No matter how hard you try, some people will not like you, or what you do. And this is OK. Yes, people will go out of their ways to make you feel bad. It takes time and practice to learn how to deal with this kind of people.

Keep working on yourself, keep improving. Don’t ever stop creating because some random dude dislikes your creation. There are plenty of people in this world that will like you for who you are, and what you do.

Just remember to don’t take it personally, and keep doing your thing.

Keep creating, keep sharing.