A huge accelerator for my own self-growth has been to ask myself, "what if they're right?" when I'm on the receiving end of criticism.
My natural reaction is to defend and oppose it, but challenging myself to consider it as true has been a helpful—and often humbling—experience.
Taking this stance forces me to analyze the thing I'm interpreting as criticism. Is there truth to it? If so, what does that mean for me? Is this at odds with how I see myself? If yes, then I have something to work on.
The prerequisite to this exercise is that you're open to being wrong about things you now staunchly believe are true.
Changing your mind, whether by inspiration from someone else or your own agency, is a beautiful part of life. I'm consistently excited every time I notice it.
Not to deter anyone, but success in this endeavour can also be strangely frustrating.
Your changes may challenge this idea of who you are that people have created. You may get pushback. If it's a stark enough change, you may get asked if you're doing OK. Fret not, for these are positive indicators.
This means the idea of you growing makes people confront uncomfortable truths. They realize you're growing and they are not. They're threatened by that. They also feel like they're losing a grip on this tidy version of how they see you. You're upsetting a balance in their life. You're disrupting their truth.
Some people may have feel your opinions and thoughts align with their own. If that changes, it forces them to confront whether they're wrong in the way they think. The fact you're inadvertently causing that thought is going to cause them pain. Comparison is a heck of a depressant.
Just know that you're on a path to improve yourself in ways important to you and others may not understand. That's OK. They're living their life in a way that works for them, and you're living in a way that you prefer. That's how it should be.