Would you stay in a situation where someone was trying to physically harm you? Probably not. Use that same diligence whenever someone attempts to harm your spirit.
Constant criticism (which is not the same as constructive criticism meant to help you) that causes you to feel as if you can't do anything right and has you feeling bad about yourself, is a form of emotional abuse. Those who dish out this type of criticism may say things like, “I'm just trying to help you” or “it's for your own good.” They may try to justify their actions and turn things around to make it look as if you're the one with the issue. They may apologize emphatically, only to do it again and again.
Such condemning words and judgments can lead to insecurities, that we end up carrying around inside ourselves our whole lives, allowing the load to take from who we truly are and hinder who we can become. Sometimes we give these words way too much power and allow them to define us. It's easy to get so caught up in what others say about us, or think about us, that we begin to see ourselves in that very same light.
It's not always easy to instantly deflect how certain words affect us, but we can search within ourselves to recognize when they've become detrimental to how we view ourselves and how we choose to live.
And no, it's not always easy to let go of people we've formed relationships with, but if those relationships do not feed our well-being, what good are they really?
We must recognize who we truly are, not who others have deemed us to be. It's self-defeating to permit someone else's perception of us to dominate our days. Remember people can only take from us what we allow. If we allow others to define who we are, we also give them the power to dictate the direction our lives will go.
“If you let people break your spirit and detour you from your path, then you have not been true to yourself or those you're here to touch, those who believe in you.” ~Allison DuBois