As a package

Between praise and criticism, which one is harder to handle?

Criticism usually comes from uncensored opinions—and you get to choose whether to take it in or let it go. In fact, constructive criticism can even be helpful, because someone is pointing out what you may not see. And once you see a flaw, you’ve already solved part of the problem.

But praise is much harder to handle, because it’s something we crave. We want to hold on to it—even when it doesn’t serve us, or when it slowly pulls us away from who we are.

Imagine working over the weekend, and your manager praises your dedication. There’s a high chance you’ll work over the weekend again—even if that goes against your personal value of quality family time.

The hardest thing to change is someone’s mind, yet praise can do exactly that. It can influence us without us realising it. If we don’t pause to reflect on the compliments we receive, we become easy to sway.

It’s often clear when criticism comes from good or bad intent—but with praise, we rarely know whether it’s genuine or manipulative.

I think praise and criticism come together as a package. As long as we feel joy from praise, we’ll also feel pain from criticism.

Perhaps the goal isn’t to avoid either—but to stay steady between the two.