By Princess Pat Akpabio
It was the French Philosopher, Francais Rouchefoucald who said, and i quote; "If we had no faults we should not take so much pleasure in noting those of others". This interpretes that criticism is part of living. No wonder, Elbert Hubbard insisted that the only way to avoid critism is to say nothing, do nothing and be nothing.
When you become famous or engage in anything positive, it attracts fans and also attracts critics. The two work together. They work to encourage you to break more grounds. To the famous, rich and popular, life certainly brings to them different pairs. It brings those who love you and can’t explain why, Those who love you for who you are and what you do. Those who criticize you to see you grow positively and those who criticize you for all the wrong reasons because they can’t be you. They totally dislike everything about you.
Eleanor Rosevelt, the former first lady of the United States said "the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams". what i want you to underline there is “Future", "Believe" and "Beauty of dreams”. Without a believe in a particular craft, a believe in what you are doing, your craft which is music, dance, writing, painting, sculpturing , etc there is no beauty to be seen there, and when there is no application of beauty, there is certainly no future. The beauty of your dream is in you believing that you see a future of greatness, a future of a positive impact on your generation through your craft.
Your dream is yours and it's to prove to yourself that you should be given an auidence to hear you out and to celebrate you. It is your responsibility to study to show yourself approved of God as a work man who needs not to be ashamed but who rightly divides the word of God 2Tim 2:15.
It doesnt matter whether you are involved in design, barbing, janitorial services, the singing of gospel or circular music, painting, crafting,etc, you must study to show yourself approved. Study people who are ahead of you, get close to them and ask queations how they made it. By doing ao, you get to engage in a mentor and mentee relationship as we all can not be on the same class and same level in life. There is always someone ahead.
In Furtherance to this, how do you relate with fans on a daily basis? Express some courtesy ; Be Courteous , be polite, wear a smile on your face always, accept and give hugs to your fans. Don't act stocked-up and better than everyone else around you. learn to pause for a selfie and sometimes photo bump your fans or allow them to photo bump you. it ain’t that serious. I mean always know that without your fans people won't hear about you and your fans are your unpaid advertisers daily.
How do you respond to critics?
One thing you should know is that without critics, both postive and negative criticism you will never get better and you will never improve on your craft. Let me shock you, God has a great sense of humour. In the negative, He brings out glory. If in doubt, ask Joseph, Esther, Daniel, Job, brother David and our advocate Jesus Christ who was crucified for doing no wrong but in his death he restored what was lost in Eden.
Keep succeeding by rebranding yourself!
Let me bring it home to this arena, using myself as a symbolic tonic on the spot;
I have read and heard some negative things about me that makes me wonder where these people who fabricate lies and rumors get them. I have only two major girl friends in my life and they both live in the United States. I don’t belong in any clique of girls and by experience, and circumstances, I prefer dealing with boys because I am a tom boy who is heterosexually straight. So, when i hear or read negative things about my sexuality,
I laugh and keep steping because what that means is that there are some ladies who wish I was as filthy and dirty and condesensing as they are to go against the original creation of God which is He who created them created male and female. So, I am stoic about that lie because i dont answer to what people call me but that, which I know, that I am in God.
With years of being battered with positive and negative art of criticism and with deep rooted sense of appreciation to my critics who helped me picked up the new level, i am relaxed to advice that, when it has to do with responding to critics, you pick and choose what you want to respond to and also get a publicist; i mean, someone who will always respondin your absence, both to the positive and negative, without being scared of the negative criticism. No!
Don’t be scared of negative media. It works in your favor and in which ever way you want to look at it. Jesus dealt with a lot of negative publicity but He kept his eyes on the prize and what was that prize? Restoring us back from our lost glory. Some said He was doing signs and wonders with the power of baal. Did that stop Jesus? The answer is no. Others said He healed during the sabbath dsy, which was against the law.
His disciples picked grains during the sabbath, they don’t observe the fast. Notice here something, that when you are doing something right, you will have people criticizing you and trying to bring you down. Ignore them and stay focused and keep being in their faces. Make them your audience, as much as you can.
You become a champion through perseverance. Perseverance produces champions. A champion is higher than a winner. You can be a winner but not a champion.
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. Dare to dream, dare to stand out and dare to keep it real on 100.
I am Princess Pat Akpabio and this is changing minds changing attitudes