What happens when you allow criticisms get to you

                                                    By Olaleye Boluwatife Ezekiel 

This is for you and every other youth out there reading this piece to view criticism differently from now henceforth. You must know that criticisms are part of life, they are meant to happen because no one is perfect. No one can do anything to please everyone because it is not possible! No matter how good a person you think you are, people will always criticize you. So what do you do when this ever-present critics come knocking?

The great Aristotle once said, "There is only one way to avoid criticism; do nothing, say nothing and be nothing".

 Is that  what we want for ourselves? To live a life of vanity? A life of no accomplishment whatsoever? To live without making impacts?

When people disapprove or point out faults in anything you do, take it as an advice to improve yourself and not repeat such errors again.

If Michael Jackson gave in to critics, he wouldn’t achieved all that he achieved in his lifetime, if Ronaldo or Messi surrendered to critics, they would have retired a long time ago and won't be the living legends they are now, If Bill Gates or Aliko Dangote allowed their faults get to them they wouldn’t have been the great men they have become now.

For you and I as persons with lots of dreams and goals, to bring them to fruition is very simple...Work hard and never take criticism as the end but as a call to be better and prove doubters wrong.

Two men, Joseph and Dayo were picked randomly and were given an assignment to listen and score a song which they were to perform on stage before a large audience on a specific date-in three weeks time.

They were chosen by their musical school to represent themselves as that could be their opportunity to begin their singing careers.

Both were singers but while Joseph was a Songwriter and Guitarist, Dayo was a Pianist. However, prior to their selection, they had gone through some individual experience that would either make their lives or mar them.

Joseph was the kind of person that had this never-give-up attitude despite challenges. While in their music school, he would write songs and show them to his trainers but they would tell him that they were childish lyrics without they even giving him a chance to sing them. It got to a point that one of the trainers, Edward, took his piece, read it to the whole class and everyone burst into laughter of mockery, why?

Apparently, Joseph loved writing inspirational songs, songs that teach morals but unfortunately for him, he found himself in a society whereby “music is not all about saying what makes sense, it is all about making rhymes”. How sad!                                                                                                                          

 His mates would always criticize him because of his love for “Old Skool” and solemn music instead of the fast-tempo and beat-sweetened song which was the order of the day during their time and Joseph would always stay isolated crying and asking himself the same question, “how would I make it in music?” but he never gave in to criticism, instead, they made him stronger.

If majority of the people around him didn’t love his kind of songs then why waste his time trying to please them, he said to himself one day. Driven by determination, Joseph intensified on his song-writing, sang them and posted them online and before he knew it, he was gathering tens, hundreds of likes on his facebook and instagram pages.

This propelled one of the coaches, Martins Oghene, to invite Joseph to his home because in the actual sense, he wanted Joseph to sing one of his songs to him instead of the excuse of dinner which he gave. Joseph did perform and Martins was extremely pleased with it and when he asked Joseph why he didn’t display his talents in the school, Joseph replied, “It is not my fault, it is the fault of others, no one ever wants to listen to me, including you.” Martins apologised and from that day on, he made sure to announce Joseph’s talent so much that he got called by foreign singers.

Dayo on the other hand was a guy that hated people disapproving anything he did. He was the kind of person that couldn’t stand criticism. If you asked Dayo to, say, cook a food and you complain that the food is salty or tasteless when he serves you, he would get angry and would not want to get close to the kitchen again. Unfortunately, this attitude reflected in his talent as well.

One day, while a fresher in their music school, He participated in a singing contest tagged “Talent Sing”; the first time he would do that in his life. He felt that there was a need for him to have the experience of singing on stage before a large audience with the aim of winning a cash prize as winner in the end.

Indeed, he got on stage, standing before four judges and he sang John Legend’s all of me, He was cheered on by the crowd as he finished which made him to be filled with joy. Shouts and screams of ride on, Dayo, Dayo for winner, Wonderful voice and many more were what emanated from the crowds. Oh, he felt he was going to land the prize already within him.

Suddenly, one of the judges asked, “Dayo, what instrument do you play?”

“I play the keyboard”, he replied.

“Do you play it professionally?” the judge asked again.

“Yes, of course, I am a professional at playing it”, he responded with pride.

“Well, I am surprised...Your vocal strength is really poor for a keyboardist that you say you are...If I am correct, you went flat countless times which is not supposed to be”.

Another judge said, “If I may advice you, Dayo, stick to playing the keyboard for now and master it well while you work on yourself”.

In the end, Dayo lost the contest and he was disappointed. From that day, he decided that he was never going to let himself go through such humiliation again in his life. 

“Why waste my time singing when some people are not even pleased with my wonderful voice”, he asked himself one day. Hence, he started treating his voice wrongly; eating foods and taking drinks that he felt like consuming without caring for his voice but then, the day he and no one was expecting... came.

He had been selected randomly to participate in something he had sworn never to participate in ever again in his life. How would he go about it?

One week passed just like a second, two weeks were exhausted in a twinkle of an eye, and the D-day was approaching.

While Joseph was busy working all through on the song he would compose and how he would sing it, Dayo was taking his time doing voice trainings.

Suddenly, the day came just like a thief at night, the day for Joseph and Dayo to begin a new stage in their lives. There were fifteen contestants in total, all eyeing a cash prize of N10,000,000 and a Kia Picanto car.

While others including Dayo sang songs like, 7 years ,one dance, love yourself , do like that, bank alert by P-square and many more songs by popular celebrities, Joseph sang a solemn, high-pitched song he composed himself and after about two hours of entertainment, it was time to decide the winner.

Against all odds, Joseph was declared the winner of the music contest with two others announced as first and second runner-ups respectively.

It dawned on Dayo that he had just missed a life-changing opportunity because of his attitude to life of not wanting to take corrections and learn from his mistakes. He was always trying to avoid criticisms when he should have used it to be better. He watched on as Joseph, who despite all the criticisms and mockery, never relented but instead, kept looking for ways to prove everyone wrong, was celebrated gallantly by everyone including those who usually make fun of him then.

Dayo walked out of the venue in tears.

Be open to criticism but don't and never let it affect you, instead, learn from it. You don't want to share the same fate as Dayo, do you?!