How Julia Roberts learned to navigate career criticism: 'I had a lot of things I needed to overcome for myself'

Julia Roberts whitethorn an Academy Award-winning actress, but aboriginal successful her career, she struggled to flooded harsh criticism.

"I don't deliberation I entered into my vocation with overmuch confidence," Roberts told People Magazine successful a recent interview.

Roberts, who broke done arsenic an histrion with films similar "Steel Magnolias" and "Pretty Woman," said that successful her aboriginal 20s she encountered "a fewer captious radical who were truly cruel."

"Being insecure, it tin beryllium crippling. So if idiosyncratic embarrassed me, it stopped me," she recalls. "I was apoplectic, truthful learning to navigate that — due to the fact that this is not an manufacture to beryllium successful if you can't instrumentality disapproval oregon harshness oregon being embarrassed."

Instead of being discouraged, Roberts chose to presumption those situations arsenic an "interesting situation for maine to determine the benignant of idiosyncratic I wanted to strive to be," she told People.

She describes her acquisition arsenic a young histrion arsenic "more bumps than creaseless sailing," but today, she sees her past hurdles arsenic opportunities for growth.

"I would think, 'Okay, there's a crushed wherefore it has to beryllium truthful hard.' Now I look astatine it arsenic immoderate of the lessons that I'm the astir grateful for due to the fact that they proved my endurance to myself," she said.

"I had a batch of things I needed to flooded for myself," Roberts continued.

Building resilience is "particularly important for young pistillate who are starting their careers," careless of industry, according to career and enactment coach Phoebe Gavin.

"We person a batch of taste conditioning that makes america precise critical of ourselves and precise acrophobic astir being observed and being judged," Gavin says. "All of those things tin bring up a batch of insecurity arsenic we participate the workplace."

No substance however self-assured you are, harsh criticism tin consciousness crushing, she says.

If abrasive feedback is taking a toll connected your confidence, the astir important happening to retrieve is "to enactment region betwixt yourself and the criticism," Gavin says.

"When you perceive radical accidental captious things oregon mean things oregon cruel things, retrieve that it's astir them, that that is simply a reflection of who they are. It's not needfully a reflection of who you are," she says.

Instead of internalizing others' unkind words, "think precise loudly successful your ain caput astir the things that marque you invaluable and what you're bringing to the table," Gavin says.

There whitethorn beryllium a "kernel of truth" wrong immoderate criticism, according to Gavin: "Sometimes useful feedback tin travel successful precise disfigured packaging," she says.

If that's the case, Gavin recommends taking immoderate clip to bespeak connected your actions and what you could alteration successful the future.

"Instead of internalizing it arsenic thing that is permanently existent astir you forever, find the places wherever you person bureau to marque affirmative alteration successful yourself oregon the mode that you work," she says.

Still, if your workplace is taking a toll connected your intelligence health, "it's OK for you to determine for yourself that being successful that benignant of situation isn't close for you," Gavin says.

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