A short guidance video by Dr. Aziz explaining how to stop taking things personally. He presents two core strategies: (1) recognize that others act from their own agendas and disagreements do not necessarily mean something is wrong with you, and (2) reduce perfectionism and allow yourself to make mistakes so others' reactions feel less personal.
If you are constantly taking things personally and feeling hurt by the way people are around you or how people treat you, here's how to shift it. First, you have to realize that everyone has an agenda in this world, and people want you to do what they want. And when you don't, they might be upset. And that doesn't mean something bad or wrong is happening. That's actually a healthy differentiation in relationships. I want you to do this. I'm not sure if I want to now. Maybe they're upset, and then you take it personally. And you have to realize it's healthy for me to want different things than what other people want. For me, I want to determine and live life by my agenda, not everybody else's. The second thing is you have a sense of perfectionism, which is, I should never make a mistake. No one should ever be upset with me. I should do everything perfectly. And then you don't. And then you take it so personally, like, oh, they're upset, but I. Oh, it wasn't my fault or I tried. Don't they see? And it's not them. It's you not having any space for yourself to say, oh, yeah, I did drop the ball there. Oh, I didn't know what to say there. Yeah, that happens sometimes when you're okay with it, you stop taking things personally.
