Does Criticism from Loved Ones Hold You Back? Break Free

When you are going after your dreams, a few hurdles must be surpassed. This is not a bad thing because anytime you want to achieve something great in your life, it is truly worth the effort it takes to succeed. One of the struggles that clients often share with me is the negative responses from family, friends, and co-workers when they reveal their new goals and dreams.

Why does this phenomenon occur and what can you do about it?

When you begin to make changes in your life, it will surely bring up fear in those around you. Although these people may have the best intentions in offering their advice, it is often clouded with their own fears of failure, insecurity, the unknown and many more limiting beliefs. These beliefs are illusions, yet when you give into them, they can overpower your life and hold you back from your own greatness. These fears are a figment of one’s imagination made real. When loved ones share their negative opinion with you regarding your dream, they are also projecting their own fears onto you. And if you have any self-doubt whatsoever, this pessimism has the power to throw you off your path and you may give up altogether.

If you look back in history, there are so many examples of people having to ward off great negativity and roadblocks as they forged toward their lofty ideas and inventions. The Wright Brothers were laughed at many times for their invention of the crazy flying machine that changed our lives forever. Henry Ford came from a family of farmers. When he told his father that he wanted to be a mechanic instead of working on the family farm, it created a huge schism between he and his father.  Ford went on to mass-produce the automobile. There was also a man named, Akio Morita, that came from a long line of Saki makers in Japan. When he told his father he was going to make a career in electronics rather than join the family business, his father would not speak to him for a long time. Akio went on to establish a company that you may have heard of called Sony.

When Sam Zien told his friends he was going to leave the biotech industry to become a television entertainer and The Cooking Guy, many laughed and said he would never make it. We all know how that story turned out.

And in my own life, when I left a successful advertising agency to become a homeopathic physician, my own mom thought I had joined a religious cult and told me to get a job. Why? Because she was afraid. She meant well, but she could not see the possibilities that I could see. She could not feel the passion that I felt. (Now she is so happy that I did not listen!)

So when you reveal your dreams, be careful to only share them with those that are supportive of you. Otherwise, I suggest you keep them to yourself. Position your head toward your goal. Do not let anyone tell you it cannot be done and walk toward it every single day. Then when your dream is finally realized from your powerful intention and action, go ahead and share your excitement with the world. I assure you that old criticism will shift to applause.

Save