The naysayers in your life - do you want to prove them wrong??

[The Heretic]

You know, the negative people who criticize decisions you make. The people who say you won't amount to anything. The people who say you are wasting time/money with something. Who say you are a loser? Or just the people who doubt you?

Do you want to prove them wrong? Is this an incentive for you to succeed?

I was just watching Jodie Foster say that one of the most inspiring things for her to say to herself was "and someday I'll show them".

I've had a lot of failures in my life, and they would get me down, but I knew that for the most part I was right in the direction I was going. That sometimes you have to stop doing one thing and start something else because the world changes, and you either change with it or get left behind.

I think that was the big problem with my parent's generation - most not only could not deal with change, they could not even acknowledge it happened. There was one way to do things and that was the way they did things.

You didn't get a job by sending out resumes with letters (or shudder, via email), you got a job by going around and banging on doors asking for one. You didn't switch careers in the middle of your life, you stuck with what you knew. You didn't quit your job after 2 years and go to another company, you stuck with the same employer for 10 years or maybe even your whole working life.

 

[Adakgirl]

I don't know Heretic..I keep those kinds of people out of my life. I really haven't had anyone be like that and say things like that to me. Well besides myself..I say things like that to myself sometimes. then yes I do try to prove myself wrong.

 

[dolf]

my family said i'd never keep my kids, love them, raise them.
my mother said she'd end up raising them. my sister said i'd end up killing them or myself.

big fuck you to my family.

 

[Rusty_rooster]

I take peoples opinions with a grain of salt.

 

[Recidiva]

I left most of them behind. Spent a great amount of my young life trying to prove myself, and I now only really get frustrated by these people, anger fades fast. It's a waste of time and resources.

I stick with the people who get who I am and who I want to be. Me trying to justify myself to someone who can't make any attempt to see eye to eye isn't worth it.

 

[The Heretic]

I left most of them behind. Spent a great amount of my young life trying to prove myself, and I now only really get frustrated by these people, anger fades fast. It's a waste of time and resources.

I stick with the people who get who I am and who I want to be. Me trying to justify myself to someone who can't make any attempt to see eye to eye isn't worth it.

I don't like to be around naysayers, but my family was not really that supportive emotionally. Then there were the ancillary people - past bosses and such who fired me.

It is not my total motivation, but yeah, I often say the best "revenge" is success.

 

[Xander]

I already did. They said I couldn't. That I would fail. I did not. And they had to eat their words with a good sized side of "Fuck you very much"

 

[DéjàNu]

be prepared the first one who will come and talk to me about how I dedice to lead my life.

I dont know them and dont want to know them either.

Yes my moms made comments, but thats what moms does, you just shove the comment away.

 

[Darkest Lord]

I don't bother with them, lest I be tempted erase their existence.

 

[HappyMisha]

I've made my share of bad decisions but the way I look at it is that each and every decision I have made has mold me into the person I am today.

I usually try to surround myself with relatively positive people but there are naysayers everywhere. For example, no matter what I do, nothing will ever be good enough for my mom. I'll never have enough money, I'll never have the right job, I don't have children (and most probably won't have them), I weigh too much (even though I've lost 60 pounds in the past two years), etc.

I've learned to block it out. I know it sounds terribly cliché but I couldn't care less what other people think. The only thing that matters is me and the people closest to me.