The Critical Nature of Criticism

Criticism
It’s just so critical

Received a professor’s criticism of my thesis and it produced
anxiety for me. What if he doesn’t approve of me?

Halfway through I acknowledged the anxiety and embraced it as constructive
Criticism can be constructive or flatly rejected
 
What is in me that prefers to flatly reject it?
Self-preservation

When I should prefer self analysis
Upon analyzing my self recently, I’ve found:

Strong and arbitrary judgment of strangers
A fear of appearing to be a failure

I’ve made progress on the second, but the first is very innate.