Being Defensive

A few weeks ago my supervisor told me to "not be so defensive" as I attempted to explain to her what happened about a task after she had told me that I did it "all wrong."
As you can imagine, I only felt more defensive even when I was trying to, yes, defend (or in my perspective, explain) myself. Being who I am I proceeded to process this "feedback" by role-playing the situation in one of my classes (oh yes I did) and seeing my therapist the next day.
Lessons Learned:
1. A new appreciation for those who do the grunt work in offices. We should all be extra-nice to admin assistants.
2. I have been that much too critical voice and can be such a hard a** when things don't go my way. Time to be more gracious.
3. Don't stay at a job or in situations where you are disrespected or seen as a peon. As such they don't deserve your loyalty.
4. Some people may be (fill in the blank) and feel they have no reason to change but that doesn't mean I have to be around them.
5. No matter hard I try, I can't fix it and maybe that's okay.
6. Don't say you're sorry when you're not (from my therapist).
7. Take time to explain, to listen and ask questions. 
8. Then again, there may be times when saying "I'm sorry" is the right thing to do especially those in power.
9. Pick my battles. Win some, lose some. 
10. Just because they view my work as "all wrong" doesn't actually mean that it is. And even if it is, it isn't the end of the world.

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