Ouch. That had to hurt. Someone just took a personal swipe at you that you didn’t see coming and it left you with a nice sized bruise on your ego.

You’re not good at cooking. You never really could sing. Truthfully, I’m leaving you because you smell like my Grandmother’s basement.

All of these would hurt anyone’s ego. The hard part is admitting it hurts, particularly considering the fact that we all grew up with the oh-so-reputable “sticks and stones…” phrase. The fact of the matter is that words do hurt and have even been known to be the cause of bringing those sticks and stones to settle a dispute. Nobody likes to admit to suffering from a bruised ego because by doing so, they’re admitting that there’s a bit of truth to whatever the person just said.

Getting Over What Was Said – And Yourself

Rather than sticking to something like “sticks and stones…”, it’s so much better to live by the mantra, “nobody’s perfect” because, well, really nobody is. Even someone like Martha Stewart, who built a media empire on living the perfect lifestyle, isn’t perfect, and she has the jail record to prove it.

Remind yourself that someone pointing out your shortcomings is pointless because they, too, have their own shortcomings.

A bruised ego only hurts as much as you’re willing to let it hurt. Are you going to sit there and sulk over what someone said about something you like to do? If so, then be prepared to have this wound take a while to heal. Or, you can look at it as being one person’s opinion — that’s it – and while the comment may have stung at first, the truth of the matter is that really, it doesn’t matter and shouldn’t stop you from doing what you love to do and living your life the way you want to live it.

Don’t Go Overboard – Own Your Quiet Confidence

Make sure not to go too far in regaining confidence about yourself because that’s what draws attention back to you. If you’re sure in what you are able to do, then just do it – there’s no need to brag to others about your accomplishments and how good you are at something. If you do do this, you are setting up an audience of people who will continue to take shots at you and hope that you fall off your pedestal.

A quiet sense of confidence says more about yourself than anything you could tell people outright.

So put some ice on that bruised ego of yours and get back to doing whatever it is that you love to do. Burn dinner for the third straight night. Sing at the top of your lungs and completely off key. Don’t shower for a week. Do whatever you want to do and don’t let anyone tell you any different.

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