On taking insults

As the door opened...

"May shirt nga dito, ang pangit!"

So let me ask you one question, what would you feel if you heard those six words? Wait, let me add something. What would you feel if you heard those six words and you just showed someone your shirt design?

Well, I guess you'll be mad, hysterical, or angry. If I'm wrong, then maybe you're different--good different, I mean. I heard those words before. (Well actually, that was like a month ago. Haha!) I honestly did nothing the moment I heard them. It was an like a hard brick thrown at my face but I'm tarred to the ground so I couldn't actually hit it back. How would you feel if your considered work of art will be subjected to a nasty comment without even a reason behind? It was an insult, yes a fucking insult. More than that, it felt like a wasted effort.

You see, there are two ways to criticize something or someone. First, is the more euphemistic way; a constructive criticism, so as what others would say. It is a more sweet approach of actually pointing out what you felt wrong about something without stepping on others' feelings and or efforts. (Yes I am pointing out efforts, so much for moving on. Hahaha!) It's a criticism that is based on something, whether by preference or choice. It's a key in building one's confidence and ACTUALLY helping them improve their crafts. The second one, on the other hand is an insult. I know everyone had received words that are far less sweet and acceptable to the human ears. An insult is a comment that seemed too right for the moment it was used. But honestly speaking? Insults are just lame and nonsense utterance of unpleasant words that has not been completely processed by the Central Nervous System. In a shorter definition, it wasn't thought of.

Insults come in various forms. Whether by words, by pictures, by body language, by accents, by gestures, but behind them all an insult is an insult. In my case, I was insulted not merely by the superficial act of insulting my work. It's like a jolt of lightning struck my memory bank and traced down every single nudge, color, positioning, imagining, mouse-clicking, keyboard shortcuts, water breaks and eye squintings I did when I was working on the simple shirt design. What hurt me was the thought of how could this person actually utter these words without even considering pointing out what he actually disliked about my work? Does he know how tiresome it could get just to design one simple shit like this? Is he even considering the efforts made by yours truly? Those are the fucking questions I wanted to ask. But I didn't. And you know why? Because as what one of the 48 Laws of power suggest:

"Never step on a great man's shoe."

I just accepted the fact that right at that moment, I am weak and I am not capable of returning the favor of asking. There will come a time when I'll have the authority and power to actually say something. I didn't retract what I believed in, I just set them aside because I do know that I am right and I am great. No one should have the power to step on me or my works, and that's one of my principles in life. In time, revenge may not be necessary but being successful with whatever, yes even shirt designing will be my best comeback. And that is my ultimate rule on taking insults.

Rewire your brain so that insults will be converted into striving factors for you to excel and be successful in the near future. Consider them as the stones thrown at you, but instead of throwing them back, you collected them and yearned to build a stone cottage. #SocoPreaches