Written by Supakorn Laohasongkram on August 13th, 2014

Prior to reading the feedbacks for this assignment, my mind start getting scare of whether or not someone will say anything bad about me. This is a mental attitude of fearing criticism. And it is very dangerous and will consume your education if you give in to it.

I have seen a lot of people who gave in and choose to love themselves more than they love their education. They tends to reject all criticism down right regardless of whether or not it actually is true or whether or not it could be beneficial. And this makes communication and working with this type of people become almost impossible.

Communication Break Down

There are a number of times when I really want to suggest someone a better way to do things and what they can improve on. But when I do, it turns out to be a big mess. Every little feedbacks and suggestion become a stab on their delicate and beloved self. And the next thing I know, I have become the bad guy.

Working with these type of people is nearly impossible. I could never know what or when to say since what I say could potentially be intepreted wrongly and I could ended up hurting them. And I have no intention of hurting. So my solution is, "Don't bother" since they are not up for it.

You are not up for DBC.

If you are here to look always "good", "perfect", "smart" and you can't accept yourself being slightly "wrong" and "stupid" then you are just not up for DBC.

Clearly, you are willing to trade your self-image at the cost of your actual growth, who are at the cost of who you could be, your reputation at the cost of your character, and your reflection of who you are at the cost of who you really are. This is not the growth mind set. It's the I-am-already-good mindset. And there is no room for growth in this kind of mindset, only denial and complacency.

Let's Grow

Again and agian, I believe we should not lose our sight of why we are at DBC. We are here to grow techinically as well as culturally. And my only suggestion is here: Stop liking yourself and start liking your education. If you really love yourself then you want criticism. If you really love yourself then instead of instantly rejecting all criticism, start listening wholeheartedly and subjective to what others have to say. If you really love yourself, then start seeing yourself subjectively for who you really are and start accepting your short-comings. If you love yourself, dare to be wrong and look stupid because that is how you learn. Those are what you do for yourself, in and off DBC, if you really love yourself.

Let's allow ourselves to grow :)