It can take only one sentence to make me get my back up. Doesn't matter what sentence, but as soon as I feel someone MIGHT be insulting me or something I did, I immediately get defensive. I then become resentful because I don't know why someone would talk to me that way. When possibly, it was just a comment with no further thought behind it. Or…..was it?

Why is this? Do I strive to be a perfectionist so much that I cannot understand why anyone would think I could do any wrong? Goodness, I hope not. But it is a definite possibility. One of the conclusions I have come to is that when I put 110 percent into something, I don't understand why people cannot either give constructive criticism, or don't say a damn word.

This must have happened to you before? You work really hard on something, maybe even something that even though you know turned out great, you still feel like you might have done it wrong, and you are looking for someone, anyone to say “Wow, that's great! I can't believe how much work you did” or, “That looks great, you are going to blow everyone else away.” But instead you hear “Why would you even do that? It doesn't make sense. Did you just start that the night before?”

I really worry about the fact that some people have no idea the impact of their words. Many do not stop and think about what they just said five seconds ago. No matter how angry I get with someone, or how much their project sucks, I would never say anything that I think they wouldn't forget. We've all heard the words from our parents before “You will never forget the way people made you feel.” Um, hello! Why would you want someone to remember you as someone who hurt their feelings or insulted something of yours? It makes no sense to me.

As I commented on before in one of my articles (I think it was even last week) we don't live in a world that thinks of others before it thinks of itself. I would gladly put my friends' feelings before my own, and if they are happy, that's all that matters.

Christmas is a perfect example, how it is about the giving and not the receiving. But ask three friends what their favourite gift was for Christmas and they will tell you about cash, or expensive tangible items such as electronics. When did we stop recognizing the thought put into smaller and more meaningful gifts and stop saying that the best part of the holiday was seeing friends and family that for some of us, we don't go home to every night.

The worst is when you see it happen. You heard a comment come out of one of your friends' mouths to another when you are sitting right there, and it is so offensive, that you almost want to say something. But you can't. And whose place is it to make a comment. What would you even say? “Wow that was mean.”? And then get made fun of for the rest of the semester by the friend who clearly doesn't care how making fun of you feels?

Believe me guys, I get it. It can be hard to stand up for others, and to stand up for yourself. But when someone makes me feel like crap about myself, I just know that I deserve totally better. I remember who made me feel a certain way, especially those who were negative. To those people, good luck in getting anything you want from me, because how can you expect to go through life being rude and inconsiderate and then expecting favours in return. For the number of times your teachers have told you that “it's all in who you know,” why would you shut the door on one of those people? Yes, maybe I am a defensive person, but I'd rather have people think I am too sensitive than that I'm a complete jerk.